Dream of Absolution
by Wolf Beil
Summary: Ichigo's just your average spiritually sensitive teen. Ghosts are normal for him. But he's learned that normal is just what you're used to. He's not prepared for a threat beyond any he's faced before. Luckily he won't have to go it alone.
1. Unusual Circumstances

A/N- Wow, this is my first time writing for the Bleach fandom That and this is my first time writing in the first person… Anyway, please read and enjoy! The first chapter is pretty much set up, but it'll pick up from there. I have no idea how long this will go on for, but it'll probably take quite a few chapters to get wherever it's gonna go. This is from Ichigo's POV, but I could always decide to switch it up later.

Disclaimer- Not owned by me, but rather Tite Kubo. If it WAS owned by me, however, the Aizen arc would've ended like a year ago! I mean seriously, the pace of the show/manga needs to be picked up.

Pairings- Grimm/Ichi. That's it for now.

Warnings- None for this particular chapter but later on, language for sure, possibly violence, and maybe other things as well. It's AU, no soul reapers.

Chapter 1- Unusual Circumstances

"Hey, Ichigo, it's a beautiful night. Let's go for a walk!"

Thinking about it now, those words and the stubbornness of the person speaking them, may have been the reason that everything worked out the way it did.

The person speaking them was of course none other than Rukia Kuchiki. She was standing on my doorstep with her usual charming confidence. The short girl's insistence when it came to her whims was both amusing and frightening. At that moment, it was quite amusing, but I've seen her when it isn't quite so funny. Those are times I'd rather not talk about, if possible. I didn't technically have anything to do, but we'd both become so accustomed to arguing about things like this that I just slipped into it.

"Do we have to go? I'm busy." I protested.

She gave me a withering look "This is one of the few times you're NOT busy. We just had a big test, you aren't recovering from injuries, you aren't hanging out with anyone else, and there haven't been any pressing spiritual problems."

Ah, "spiritual problems". That one probably needs some explaining.

I, Ichigo Kurosaki, can see spirits.

I'm well aware of how it sounds, however it is the truth. I can see the dearly departed. Not only that, they come to me for help. There are others who have the same abilities I do, but for the most part I'm the one they show up in front of. I don't know why this is, exactly. I've often asked one spirit or another why it chose me of all the supernatural sensitive in Karakura Town, but they seem as stumped as me.

The dead, especially the newly dead, often have unfinished business with the living. Because of that, the require a… translator of sorts, to tell their loved ones how much they care, or help a friend with their problems, and in a few rare cases, to help catch their murderers before they make their final journey into the light.

I can sort of see why'd they come to me, after all even though I'm not the most powerful, my ability is definitely the most consistent. Rukia's "gift", as she calls it, is similar to mine both in power and reliability. For some reason, it seems that Karakura has a high concentration of supernatural activity. There are lots of spirits and lots of people that can hear them.

In fact, most of the friends I have, possess the gift to some extent. Either that, or I met them while I was trying to cross over a spirit to the other side, so they're believers. Anyway, because of my constant helping of spirits, I've become somewhat famous in certain circles.

Anyway, Rukia was waiting for me to give her a satisfactory answer. In other words, she was waiting for me to either give in or suffer the consequences. Easy choice, in my opinion.

"…Fine." I agreed.

"Yay!" She chirped happily "Let's go on the trail that leads into that clearing in the woods!"

"Are you kidding me?" I argued "It's the dead of night, and you want to go traipsing about the woods! No thanks."

Ok, it wasn't actually the dead of night, more like 9 o'clock, but it was still dark out and a walk with Rukia rarely lasted less than an hour. So clearly, I had good reason to object.

Rukia wasn't having it though "Ichigoooooooo…"

I gulped. Her saying my name in that particular manner meant one thing. Trouble.

"Alright Alright, I get it! I'll go!" I finally conceded.

"Well what are we waiting for then? Let's go!" Rukia shouted, holding open the door and stepping aside, allowing me to pass.

"Will I be okay in what I'm wearing?" I asked, gesturing to my jeans and short sleeve shirt.

Rukia glanced at me and considered for a moment "Yeah, you'll be fine. It's really nice out tonight."

I nodded and we fell in step together, heading for the woods. On the way we chatted about this and that… Our homework, the latest ghost we'd dealt with, who was dating who at our school… the usual. Well, to be honest I didn't contribute much to that last one. Because I didn't care. Rukia did, however, and made it her duty to fill me in.

Apparently Renji had a crush on someone, but was keeping it a secret and Orihime also liked someone, but Rukia wasn't allowed to tell me who. Not that I wanted to know. To tell the truth, I think Rukia was making up a lie about Orihime's crush in order to get me interested in her. She'd been hinting for some time that the two of us would make a great couple, but I just wasn't interested in her like that.

Anyway, after about ten minutes we arrived at the trail that was densely surrounded by woods, and after another twenty we reached a clearing. In the center of it was a stump from a tree that had been cut down some time ago.

"Hey, Ichigo. Do you know the story behind this clearing?" Rukia asked me, looking up into the sky.

"No."

"Well," She began "The tree that stood here used to be the protector of Karakura Town. However, some greedy men came and cut it down for its resources, this caused terrible things to happen to the town. A little boy's parents died in one of these terrible events, so he came to what was left of the tree to try and save the town, but nothing he said or did had any effect. So he sat on the stump and began to cry."

I simply stood still and listened to Rukia tell the story. I began to get caught up in the events. If nothing else, Rukia was a great storyteller.

"His crying reached a fever pitch, and he suddenly stood up on top of the tree stump and shouted something to the heavens. 'I wish no more disasters would happen!'. And from then on no more horrible events struck the town, however the town's crime and accident rate has remained strangely high, as if someone was causing them, even to this day.

I took a moment to consider what she had said and then laughed a little.

"The only thing you said that was true was about our town's clumsiness and number of degenerates!" I concluded.

She punched me in the stomach. Hard, but not as hard as she could have.

"This isn't funny!" She chided me, even though she was smiling "It's true that fifteen years ago this tree was cut down, disasters occurred, and they suddenly stopped leaving accidents and crimes in their wake!"

I still hadn't quite gotten all the air in my lungs back, so I didn't respond to her. As I recovered, she skipped over to the stump in the center of the clearing and pulled herself up on top of it. She turned towards me and smiled.

"I'll prove it to you." She said, grinning.

"I WISH FOR A BILLION YEN RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!" Rukia screamed at the top of her lungs.

I rolled my eyes, that wish was classic Rukia. Even as I rolled my eyes, I sort of scanned the clearing, making sure the money hadn't actually appeared. Rukia was doing the same. She seemed a little disappointed when she saw there was none. Well, that was something. If a small part of her actually thought the money would show up then she hadn't made it up all on her own. It also made her somewhat naïve for believing such a thing was possible.

She sighed, smiled, then looked at me, "Ok, your turn!"

I wasn't surprised that she said this. I'd expected her to say something utterly ridiculous along those lines.

"I'll pass." I said disdainfully.

"Oh, come on Ichigo!" She shouted at me "What's the worst that could happen? Besides, as soon as you make a wish we'll leave!"

It wasn't much, but it was enough to get me moving towards the stump. I stood atop the stupid thing and scowled.

"I'm not shouting" I warned

Rukia smiled indulgently, as if she were dealing with a child "That's fine."

I sighed and began "Right now my life is pretty good. I don't particularly need anything, so here's my wish. I wish that if something were to destroy the life I have now, I would have a chance to fix it."

As soon as I said it I felt two things. My body felt lighter, different, but in a good way. I felt better, but in a way I couldn't describe. At the same time, I felt a dark presence somewhere in the woods around us. Whatever it was, I'd not felt evil like it in a long time. Usually spirits aren't evil, just misguided or angry. But on occasion… I shuddered. The memories of those occasions made me shudder.

"…"

Rukia was being dead quiet. Never a good thing, but she was looking down and seemed to have an anxious expression on her face. I rarely saw one on her, so it worried me a bit. Enough to forget about the presence.

"…Rukia?"

She shook herself "Oh, sorry! I got lost in thought there for a moment. My, Ichigo! I didn't know you were so sweet!"

She was back to her normal self.

"Shut up!" I ordered her, frowning.

Rukia simply smiled and headed towards the trail back home. I hopped off the stump and followed after her. We were bantering as we started to leave the clearing. I made fun of her height and she shot out her foot to trip me. Luckily, my quick reflexes saved me from falling. However, as I stumbled I saw something strange. I stopped, bent over, and picked it up.

"Hey, what's this?" I asked to no one in particular.

It was dark, but when I looked closely I could see that it was a small red gem. I held it up to the moonlight and examined it.

"Hey, I'll bet it's valuable!" Rukia concluded.

I chuckled "If that's the case then it must be the tree's way of apologizing for not being able to grant your wish!"

She smiled back at me "No way! You found it, so it's obviously yours!"

I tried to argue with her to take the dumb thing, but she wouldn't budge on the issue. I decided to keep it and give it to Yuzu, or maybe my girlfriend, if I ever got one.

We parted ways at the entrance to the trail, as Rukia lived in a different direction as me. I tried to walk her home, but she waved me off, saying she would be fine. I almost started another argument with her about it when I decided she was right. She probably would be fine. Plus, I wasn't in any mood to escort her to her damn mansion. I swear the Kuchiki family has more money than anyone else in town, and her brother is seriously unafraid to flaunt it. We don't get along, but we don't exactly fight so we tolerate each other for Rukia's sake.

Anyway, I was heading home when a man appeared in front of me. It was dark so it took a little bit to get a picture of his description in my head, but once I did it was clear who the man in front of me was. I recognized him. Not because I knew him or anything, but I'd heard a few rumors about this person. One or two good ones, some neutral, and some really really nasty ones.

"Hello." He said politely.

I wasn't feeling particularly courteous "What do you want Urahara?"

He pulled out a fan and squealed. The idiot actually squealed.

"You know me! Yay, I'm so happy!" He called out in a voice that grated on my ears.

"I do NOT know you, you weirdo! I've just heard about you from around town!" Ichigo clarified.

"But how did you know who I was just by looking at me" Urahara asked, seemingly genuinely confused.

"The description has a hat, wears clogs, carries a fan or a cane, and is a total creep doesn't exactly describe a large portion of the population!" I explained angrily.

"True enough." He said "What else have you heard about me?"

"Just that you're an inventor slash toy maker" I admitted "That and some rumors I'm pretty sure are false."

He didn't ask about the rumors, he simply smiled and began talking again.

"So, Mr. Kurosaki, I have a favor to ask of you." Urahara began.

"… How do you know my name?"

He ignored me.

"You seem to possess an unusual talent for not only seeing spirits, but also drawing them towards yourself. However, you seem to be unaware of your other abilities. Abilities I need you to know if you are to prevent the disaster that will befall us all." He spoke in my general direction.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I interrupted, speaking the truth.

He ignored me again.

"However, I don't, that is, no one has the time to wait for those abilities to awaken on their own. So I've decided to speed the process along." He said, finally done explaining something that didn't make any sense.

"… What?" I asked dumbly, not knowing what was going on.

He suddenly leapt forward with almost inhuman speed and grabbed my wrist. Before I knew what was happening he had let go and disappeared.

"When the time is right, come to my shop, Mr. Kurosaki!" He shouted, sounding nearby.

I glanced around and saw the fool balancing on a nearby fence, ready to jump to the other side and escape. I took a look at my wrist and I saw something black attached to it.

"What the hell did you do to me, bastard!" I yelled at him.

"Just say 'Absolution Activate!' when you meet someone you know, but don't know!" He advised me, making no sense, which seemed to be standard for him.

"What the hell does that mean!" I shouted even as he began to make his escape "Get back here, idiot!"

He either didn't hear me, or didn't care. And I was left to stand on the sidewalk, completely furious. I examined my right wrist, the one he grabbed, more closely. My initial assumption of something being attached to me turned out to be only half correct. It hadn't bonded to my skin, as I'd feared, it was actually a bracelet. A black bracelet with a skull design on it.

I immediately tried to take it off, but the damn thing was like a Chinese finger trap. The more I tried to get it off the more it seemed to constrict around my arm. Leave to an eccentric inventor to create something so utterly annoying.

'_When I get my hands on Urahara I'm going to kill him!' _I thought.

I glanced at it again. At least it wasn't ugly, but the fact that it wouldn't come off was an annoyance and a half. I decided that I'd track him down tomorrow after school.

'_Ugh. School.' _I remembered.

Today had been Sunday, which meant tomorrow was the dreaded Monday. I mean, I saw the good points of school, I did. I got to see my friends, and I suppose it would be helpful later on when I wanted to get a job. But I still didn't like it, even if I did do pretty well. I think my scores on tests surprise my friends more than my ability to see ghosts.

I was thinking about the strange evening I had when I reached my front door, I placed my hand on the doorknob when I suddenly sensed evil in the nearby area. The same one from the clearing. I whipped my head around, but didn't see anything. I didn't have time to pinpoint its location, though because I heard thumping coming from behind the door. Knowing what was coming I opened the door and stepped aside.

"Ichigo!" my idiot father called out, leaping through the door with an overly stylized kick.

I didn't give him a chance to land properly.

"Don't attack your own son whenever he comes home!" I shouted angrily, kicking him in the stomach.

The force of my kick changed his trajectory to a more diagonal path. This lead him to collide with a concrete wall separating our house from another. It probably hurt, but I didn't waste my time worrying about him. He'd be fine. More importantly, somewhere in all the chaos, the evil feeling had vanished.

"You'd think he'd learn after awhile." a voice sighed from the living room couch.

It was Karin. Yuzu was in the kitchen, when she welcomed me back home I greeted her an then turned to Karin.

"You're giving him far too much credit." I contested.

"My dearest Misaki, our son has gotten so strong!" my father cried, hugging a poster of her.

I wish that the poster or my dad's antics were new so I could be creped out by them, but they weren't. My dad had been acting silly my whole life, so I was depressingly used to this sort of thing. I ignored his crying and went upstairs. I grabbed a towel and took a quick shower.

Drying myself off, I returned to my room and put on some sweats and took off my t-shirt. I studied for a bit, but I couldn't seem to get into it. I eventually turned out the lights. As I lay, trying to fall asleep, I contemplated what had happened tonight and what it all could mean. As I lost consciousness only one thing remained clear:

Rukia's worried, anxious face.

A/N- How was that? Good? Not so good? Reviews would be awesome. I think Ichigo might have been a little OOC, but I'm not sure. He's a complex guy after all… anyway! Look forward to the next chapter, where Grimmjow will be introduced!


	2. Ghost

A/N- I'll bet you read the first chapter and were like "WTF?". Sorry for all the mystery, but that's kind of the point. This chapter will answer a question or two, but also raise some new ones. And just remember that things are not always as they appear to be. Oh and I'm a bit sorry about how long this took. I don't think it took an obscene amount of time, but I could have had it out sooner if I hadn't been caught up in the beginning of the school year.

Pairings- Grimm/Ichi. Sort of. Eventually.

Warnings/Disclaimer- First chapter pretty much covers it. Unless I didn't mention language. I think I did, but I can't be bothered to go back and check.

* * *

Chapter 2- Ghost

Waking up is easily the most difficult part of my morning. It's not because I have a hard time getting up, but rather because my psychopath of a father is more likely than not to burst into my room and attempt to attack me. His own son! Today was unusual in that he didn't attack me. He didn't even try to wake me up, as he usually did when not attacking me.

Not that it really mattered, I've become so accustomed to him bursting into my room that I wake up a few minutes before he appears, so as to be prepared. He's usually so reliable in this aspect that I've stopped setting my alarm in the morning.

I stood up out of bed and stretched, cracking a few joints in the process. When I went to the bathroom I realized that I still needed to take a shower. I disrobed and took a quick one. My irritation rose when I realized that I still had that stupid armband on and that I still couldn't remove it, but I quickly got over it. I wrapped a towel around my waist and returned to my room. Looking into my closet, I "chose" my school uniform out of all my clothes that actually had color.

Never one to be late unless it was intentional, I had a bit of time before I had to leave for school. I decided to go downstairs and have a nice leisurely breakfast. The kitchen looked as it usually did. And by that I mean busy. For some reason, even though their school starts later than mine, Karin and Yuzu both insist on waking up before me.

Yuzu had made a small meal for us all to enjoy before starting our days. She ushered the three of us to the table when I noticed something unusual. There was no place setting for my crazy father.

"Where's dad?" I wondered aloud.

"Oh, he said he had to 'go somewhere important' and just left." Yuzu supplied.

"That's it? No explanation beyond that?" I asked, surprised. Though, knowing my dad maybe I shouldn't have been.

Karin slid into her seat and piped up "You know how he is, never thinking very far in advance."

I sighed "Yeah, I know. I just wish he'd have told us how long he's going to be gone. I mean he usually at least mentions a trip before he disappears like this."

"You worry too much." Karin said, smirking.

"Yeah, well you don't worry enough!" I retorted.

She didn't say anything, but merely started to eat the food that had been lain out during our talking. I followed suit, and breakfast was completed without much conversation to speak of. Without dad, there wasn't usually much to talk about anyway. Guess he was good for something, aside from being an alarm system.

After a quick goodbye to my sisters I was out the door and on my way to school. I sometimes walked with one of my friends to school, usually Rukia, Renji, Chad, even Orihime on the rare occasions that she got herself up in time. It's just I have a strict policy about leaving when I want to. If you weren't there when I wanted to leave then too bad, I'm going on ahead. That lead most of my friends to not even bother trying to walk with me to school, as I didn't have a set schedule in the morning's and one could never tell when I was going to leave.

Anyway, on this particular day it appeared as if I was going solo. Although it was still kind of early, so someone could still show up. Oh well, too bad for them. I arrived at school with lots of time to spare. I went straight to my locker and put away my backpack, and retrieved the necessary items for my first few classes. After that, I sat down and studied a bit. Studying didn't really fit with my image, but I'd worked hard for my high class rank and I wasn't about to let it slip.

I was immersed in studying for a good twenty minutes before a voice interrupted me.

"Hey! Ichigo!"

I turned to look, and there down the hall was my friend Tatsuki. She and I go way back, and even though we aren't best friends we get along really well.

"Have you seen Orihime?" She asked.

I probably could have predicted that question. Tatsuki and Orihime were definitely best friends, and the former constantly worried over the latter.

"I haven't." I replied "Though it's not unusual for her to arrive just before the bell, right?"

"Yeah, that's true." She admitted "It's just, me, her, and Rukia all have a project to work on. We were supposed to meet in the library about ten minutes ago, but I haven't seen either of them."

My eyebrows rose in surprise. A space case like Orihime forgetting a meeting time or place in no shocker, but Rukia was surprisingly adamant about arriving on time. She was rarely late and often early. If she was gone then she had a good reason.

"Huh. That IS strange." I conceded "I'll bet they were just a little delayed. I'm sure they're fine."

It seemed to be a day for unusual happenings. Tatsuki seemed to accept my theory and went back towards the library to look for them. I looked at the clock and saw that even if Tatsuki did manage to find them, they probably wouldn't get much work done. The bell was going to ring in a few minutes.

It made me wonder why they'd scheduled a meeting pretty much just ten minutes before they had to go to class, but then I try not to question those girls. They were almost a clique, though unlike one I'd ever seen. Oftentimes they would act as if they had no logical thought guiding them. Though that was probably mostly Rukia and Orihime's influence. Tatsuki was usually pretty level-headed.

Ten minutes later I found myself in class. Bored, but a little worried. Both Rukia and Orihime's chairs were empty.

Renji, a red haired, tattooed, temperamental boy and friend of mine leaned over to ask me a question. He knew about me being "gifted", but had no sense himself.

"Where are the girls?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen Orihime since Friday and Rukia since last night." I explained.

Renji nodded thoughtfully before grinning, "Soooooo, last night, eh?"

I wanted to punch him. I really did. My second instinct was to try to explain myself. The first one would definitely land me in detention, and the second would egg Renji on. I decided to play dumb.

"Yep, last night." I said coolly, not giving him any information to feed off of.

He looked disappointed that he hadn't gotten a reaction out of me and once he turned away, I allowed myself a small smirk. I returned my attention to the teacher's lesson for the remainder of class.

As soon as the bell rang I sprang out of my seat. I didn't want to be cornered by Renji, and I wasn't in a great mood so I didn't want to talk to my other friends. I rushed into my next class with a few minutes to spare. It was obvious, because no one else had arrived yet. Unfortunately, I paid for my haste. I'd arrived at the class I liked the least. It wasn't because I didn't understand or like the subject.

I understood and like psychology just fine, it was the instructor I couldn't stand. Every time I saw Aizen, or Dr. Aizen as he demanded I call him, my fight or flight instinct kicked in. I don't run, so I was constantly trying to suppress the urge to punch him. Not only that, but there were times when he would look at me. And differently from how he looked at the other students. It never lasted too long, but when he did it sent shivers down my spine. He looked at me as if I was something on a lab table, something to be examined with mild interest and then dissected. It was uncomfortable to say the least.

The worst part was that right now I was the only student in the room, there was no one to deflect that gaze. I sat uncomfortably under his gaze for about three minutes, not daring to say anything to set him off, until students started to trickle in. That, however, barely had an effect. Class started and he barely took his eyes off me. Even the other students started to notice. Glancing at him, then back at me.

I squirmed and tried to take notes on his lesson, but every time I looked up our eyes met and I was hit with a wave of unease. Eventually I gave up, and resolved to get the notes later from Rukia, who had the class, though at a later time. Then I remembered that she hadn't been to school so far, and there was no telling whether she'd show up at all.

I scanned the room for anyone else that might have decent notes. Preferably a friend, so I wouldn't feel awkward asking them.

Ikkaku: No.

Rangiku: Not a chance.

Toshiro: Bingo.

Toshiro and I weren't best buds or anything, but we got along pretty well. He'd help. With that settled I just tried to spend the period avoiding Aizen's eyes. I don't know if he stopped staring at me, but I definitely felt more comfortable not knowing.

The bell rang and I practically sprinted out of the room. I seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Luckily, third period was gym, and even though the teacher, Kenpachi Zaraki, was totally insane, I could use it to work out my frustrations. Today we were running laps.

One thing I will say in defense of Zaraki, he never gave us a task he himself couldn't complete. He always did them right alongside us. Of course, he was a total fitness buff, so his challenges often couldn't be completed by the students. I was one of the few who could keep up with him most of the time. Being pushed to my physical limit was just what I needed to get my mind off of all the mounting problems I was facing.

Renji, Chad, and Keigo all had gym at this time as well, but even if I felt like talking to them, there wasn't much chance. Kenpachi's gym class was pretty start to finish, and total concentration was required. Today's assignment was running laps. It seemed simple enough, but as he ran Kenpachi laid traps and littered the track with obstacles. I was running as fast as him so I didn't much have to deal with them, but a lot of people seemed to be having trouble.

After class ended Kenpachi clapped me on the back and mentioned something about a rematch. I had no idea what he was talking about, so I simply nodded and answered non-committaly.

The next few periods passed uneventfully. Nothing important really happened, although I noticed Rukia had still not come to school.

After that, it was finally lunch time. I headed to the roof to have lunch with my surprisingly large group of friends. I hadn't expected to get to know so many people in high school, what with my reputation, my looks, and my secret, but being friends with Rukia was like having a key to popularity.

"So THIS is where you guys eat lunch."

Everyone stopped eating and talking for a moment and looked towards the newcomer. It was Toshiro.

"Toshiro? What are you doing up here?" asked Momo, one of Rukia's many friends.

"Rangiku asked me to eat lunch with her for once." Toshiro offered by way of explanation.

It was a well known fact that Rangiku and Toshiro were good friends, even if Toshiro didn't really like to acknowledge it.

"Hello Ichigo." He greeted, me being the only person here that he really knew.

It was a bit odd to have him up hear, but no one seemed to mind, so I didn't object. I also needed to ask him for the notes from Aizen's class.

"Hey, Toshiro. Can I have your notes from Dr. Aizen's class? I couldn't concentrate." I explained, not really wanting to give the reason if I didn't have to.

It seemed Toshiro already knew though, because he said "I'm not surprised. I mean, he usually stares at you, but today it was practically non-stop. I'll lend you my notes"

I smiled and thanked him. We chatted about random things, mostly school until the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. All of us reluctantly packed up our stuff and headed to our respective classes.

Hours later, school finally ended. I began the relatively short trek home. Lost in my thoughts, I didn't notice that someone was standing directly in my path. I probably would have crashed into said someone, if I hadn't passed through them. That caused me to stop dead in my tracks. I slowly turned around, ready to confront the spirit. It wasn't hard to piece together that it was a spirit, after all walking through someone is impossible unless one of the bodies isn't physically there.

He was… an unusual individual, to put it mildly. He was dressed casually, jeans and a white t-shirt. It was reasonable to assume that he had died in those clothes, as spirits usually wear what they were when they passed on, unless they strongly associate themselves with some other article of clothing that they didn't happen to be wearing.

He was muscular, I noticed. Obviously very fit. He was frowning and looking at me, probably annoyed that someone had walked through him. I continued to study him his eyes were blue and looking further up…

'_Is that his hair?" _I wondered.

It's no wonder I was surprised. His hair was electric blue! I don't know why, but for some reason the thought that it might be fake never occurred to me. Anyway, I looked back into his eyes and held his gaze for a moment. His expression changed from somewhat annoyed to relieved.

"You can see me?" the blue haired man asked.

"I sure can." I confirmed "My name's Ichigo. What's yours?"

He glanced away then back into my eyes "It's Grimmjow. Grimmjow Jaegerjaques."

"I seem to be able to see you. Do you need… help with anything?" I asked.

"Yeah, could you find my body for me?" He requested.

I blinked, that was a surprise. Usually spirits knew exactly where their bodies were, after all that's where they died. I assumed he meant lead me to it so his corpse could be found by those that are still living.

"Oh, you want me to find your body so it can be buried by your family or whatever." I guessed.

He glared at me "I'm not dead."

I blinked, not comprehending. This ghost was clearly in denial.

"But you want me to find your body."

"Yeah?"

"I walked THROUGH you!"

"What's your point, kid?"

That made me angry, "How could you possibly NOT be dead!"

Now he was angry, "The fuck if I know! I'm just not! Not yet, anyway!"

There was a silence, both of us breathing heavily from all the yelling. His face morphed from anger to a superior smile.

"You know what, Strawberry? I'll find someone else to help me. Catch you later." He said as he faded away, going who knows where.

"Don't call me Strawberry!" I shouted to nothing, knowing he probably couldn't hear me.

I hate it when I'm trying to help a ghost and they disappear like that. Without Rukia, it's really hard to track them. I was annoyed, but I'd probably see that ghost again, after all I was acquainted with most of the spiritually sensitive individuals in Karakura Town and referred the ghosts they met to me. Odds are this Grimmjow person would run into one of them and be directed back at me.

I sighed, but let it go. Someone's afterlife was definitely a problem that could be put off for now. I don't mean to sound uncaring it's just that a ghost has an eternity to get there, and I've only got a limited amount of time to live.

A few minutes after my encounter with Grimmjow I arrived in my home. Dad was still gone off to places unknown, and Karin and Yuzu were still at school for now. I put my problems, Rukia, Grimmjow, Urahara, ghosts, Aizen, et cetera out of my mind and focused on my school work until dinner.

Dinner was uneventful as it always was without dad around. I admit that I'd probably get bored without him here eventually, but if he's gone for a week I appreciate the calm. I thanked Yuzu for dinner and me and Karin did the dishes for her. Or, at least, that's what we were supposed to do, but Yuzu always insisted she do them herself. That didn't stop me and Karin from trying, though.

I went back up to my room and tried to study, but I found I just couldn't concentrate on it. I had the same problem reading, and even trying to watch TV! I couldn't take it anymore and decided I needed to take a walk. I told my sisters where I was going I left, putting on a light jacket, as it had been getting a bit cooler lately.

I thought Rukia might appreciate it if I came to visit her. Her brother, Byakuya, might turn me away, but I could at least try. I swear, that guy is even less friendly than I am. He and Rukia might be related, but they're nothing alike. To get to Rukia's house, which was on the rich side of town, I had to cross the longest bridge in Karakura Town. Calling it "the longest bridge in Karakura Town" made it sound impressive, but in reality it was only a couple hundred yards long.

I was about halfway across said bridge when I saw three figures standing next to each other and facing me. As I got closer, I saw that two of them were the same height, same body type and were wearing similar, if not identical clothes.

'_Twins?' _I guessed to myself.

However, the closer I got the more I realized that wasn't the case. When I was a little distance away still I recognized one of the girls as Orihime. That was confusing enough, because I thought she'd been sick, but also because one of the other figures looked exactly like her. Orihime didn't have a twin, I wondered how this was possible. Then it dawned on me. It wasn't. It's impossible for you to suddenly have an exact copy of yourself exist at the same time as you do unless…

'_Unless you're dead.' _I thought, gritting my teeth, not wanting to accept the fact that Orihime could be dead.

There was one heartening piece of evidence against the "Orihime's dead" theory. The fact that both what I supposed to be her spirit AND her body was standing upright. I've never known a dead body to do that. I approached the three figures with caution. The third figure looked familiar as well. Upon closer inspection I realized that it was Rukia. She looked grim, but when she saw me she smiled a bit.

"Ichigo…" she breathed.

I shivered.

That wasn't good. Why did I shiver? I put it out of mind, ignoring whatever my instincts were trying to tell me.

"Rukia, I'm glad to see you." I said.

I looked over at the Orihime's. One, the physical one, had her eyes closed and wasn't moving at all. The other one, the one I recognized as a spirit, her face was screwed up in concentration and was staring intently at the other Orihime.

"Rukia, what's going on?" I questioned.

She sighed "Orihime's body has been… taken over by something. At least, that's what I believe has happened."

I stared back and asked another question "What do you mean?"

"As I'm sure you've noticed, one of the Orihime's is a spirit and the other has a body." She looked at me expectantly and I nodded, she continued. "Whatever's inside Orihime's body is taking control of it, and it's shoved her soul out. I'm not sure if she's dead or not, or if she can be restored to her body."

"Ok," I said, for now accepting what she said as fact "so if that's the case, why are they just standing there, not moving."

"Orihime's trying to get back in." Rukia explained "Whatever that thing is, recognized the threat and stopped moving to deal with her."

"Alright, so how did you two meet up?" I asked.

Rukia looked down, "Long story short, I heard about some pretty terrible things that are going to happen to this town. I was seen by the people talking about them and they chased me. I went into hiding, so I could try to prevent them. Then Orihime called me and said we needed to talk. She set this bridge as the meeting place. I went and saw that there were two of her… and the physical one… killed me."

"Ha ha ha! Get real Rukia." I told her.

I laughed. That was impossible. Rukia hadn't died, I'd have been the first to know if she had. But even as I told myself this, I saw the signs. The sense of unease I got when I looked at her, the strange red marks on her neck, and there was the fact that there was an unexplained lump lying a ways away from where we were standing. I hadn't wanted to ask, because I didn't want my fears to be confirmed. Rukia had been killed.

It was all so sudden, I couldn't react in a logical way, if there even was one.

"Rukia…" I started.

"Not now, Ichigo! We can mourn me later! Right now you have to leave, this Orihime won't hesitate to kill you!" She ordered, even as the physical Orihime's eyes opened. They looked dead. The spirit Orihime was blown back, stopping just before she would have passed through the guard rail. She looked totally exhausted.

'_Someone you know, but don't know.'_

Urahara had said that. How had he known? I gathered my courage and placed my faith in that crazy old man. I don't want to have to fight Orihime, so hopefully this will work. She opened her mouth, but I didn't give her a chance to say anything, it wouldn't really have been her words anyway.

"Absolution Activate." I said, almost under my breath. I'd considered shouting it, but there was no need to be flashy.

A flash of white light proved me wrong as it emitted from the bracelet Urahara had placed on my hand. The wind picked up and roared furiously around me, threatening to knock me off balance. I let out a soft cry, the light was incredibly bright, and it hurt my eyes. Instinctively, I closed them, the light becoming too much to bear.

'_Say the right words, Ichigo!'_

I heard that sometime when I had my eyes closed. It was unmistakably Urahara's voice. Slowly, the light seemed to die down, and I risked opening my eyes. Wherever I was, it wasn't the bridge. It was pitch black, aside from a soft glow that came from the bracelet. I looked around and realized that I was mistaken in my original assessment, there was one other source of light. There was a figure that looked an awful lot like Orihime up ahead and she seemed to have an unearthly glow.

On second glance there were some key differences between this Orihime and the real one. This one's skin was completely white. There was no pigment in it at all. Her hair was a shock white. The most distinguishing characteristic between the two was this fake Orihime's smile. It was entirely too wide, that and her teeth were sharp. Her eyes were also golden and black. It obviously wasn't her.

I started to walk towards the figure, but after about a minute I realized I wasn't gaining any ground. I stopped abruptly and then burst into a sprint, trying to reach her, but it didn't work. I slowed down to a halt and caught my breath.

"The right words, huh?" I said to myself, mulling over Urahara's words.

If the white Orihime was the demon, as I suspected, then I was inside Orihime's subconscious. Thinking about it that way, then maybe if I said things that Orihime would like to hear, her mind would recognize me and allow me to move forward.

I cleared my throat, in preparation to shout to the fake Orihime "Hey, Orihime! It's good to see you again."

I tried to sound cheerful, and apparently that was enough because a path appeared in front of me. It looked was a stretch of grass that started at my feet and extended all the way to the figure ahead.

I took advantage of the opportunity to move forward. It seemed to easy, but then I knew Orihime pretty well, so I'm sure that helped. When I got close enough to punch the figure, if I so chose, it spoke.

"Orihime hates you." It said.

The thing's voice was strange. It sounded like Orihime, but it had this strange double effect, as if there were two people talking at once. I ignored both that and the comment meant to rile me up, and instead tried to figure out what I needed to do.

"You've never been there for her. You care about her the least of all your friends."

That one got to me "That's a lie!"

It smiled wider, realizing it had struck a nerve.

"How can you live with yourself? Knowing that you caused her to kill her friend?" It questioned me.

"What do you mean? I didn't do that!" I protested.

"Yes you did." The thing asserted "Emotionally stable people are… difficult to take over. However, her constant emotional turmoil over wanting to talk to you, wanting you to notice her, wanting you to love her made her easy prey."

That was news to me. I had no idea that Orihime cared about me so much. I felt terrible about it, I hadn't noticed at all. Luckily, it gave me an idea on how to remove the demon. If I could remove Orihime's emotional instability, then wouldn't the demon have no choice to leave? That's what I thought. It would be hard, but I'd have to set the record straight between us.

"Orihime!" I shouted "I'm sorry! I never noticed your feelings! I feel horrible about it. I appreciate that you like me and I wish I could feel the same, but I can't! You're like a sister to me and I've just never thought of you in that way! I know it's not what you want, but please don't ever think you aren't important to me, because you are!"

The demon's eyes widened in what seemed to be almost fear.

"NO!"

It looked at itself as it began to slowly change color. With every passing second the creature in front of me began to look more and more like the real Orihime. In time, she looked exactly like the girl I knew. She smiled and leaned forward and gave me a hug. I was going to say something to her, but before I knew it I was back in the real world, Rukia looking down on me from my position on the ground. Apparently I'd fallen.

She smiled widely "Ichigo, you did it! I saw Orihime's soul slip back into her body!"

She was so happy that she looked on the verge of tears. That smile was infectious and I found myself returning it. I stood up.

"Yeah, I guess I did." I admitted.

Rukia and I smiled at each other until her face turned to horror.

"Ichigo, watch out!" She warned, pointing behind me.

I didn't even have time to turn around, something crashed into me from behind and forced me to the edge of the bridge. I managed to twist in the attacker's grip enough to look at him. To my surprise, it was Grimmjow, who was looking insane, angry, and was decidedly NOT intangible.

"G-Grimmjow! What are you doing!" I demanded.

"Hey, Ichigo." His voice answered me to the side.

I looked to me left and saw… another Grimmjow! Realization dawned on me. Grimmjow had been possessed as well, and he'd tried to get me to help, but I hadn't listened to him. I wanted to tell him I was sorry, but I was a bit busy fighting his possessed self.

The brute managed to get me on top of the guard rail, and although I was still fighting I began to get a bit worried. That was a long drop to the river below, not to mention the swift current.

The solid Grimmjow grinned at me and I felt a wave of fear go through me. He pushed me off the side, and as I fell I caught a glance of no less than three newcomers to the scene. One had brown hair and glasses, but that was all I could see before I fell into the watery depths.

'_What is this? A bridge or a bus station?'_

That surprisingly sarcastic thought was my last one before the freezing waters washed over me. I ran out of breath and just…let…go…

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A/N- Wow this is the longest chapter I've ever written. I have no idea if the others will get this long, but don't expect them to be this long, please. Alright, so what'd you guys think? I'm eager to know, because I'm actually pretty proud of this chapter.

Hey hey, I'll answer your reviews now!

seikoxxx- Yeah, I've always thought that Ichigo seeing spirits could have been a story all on it's own. Thanks for the encouragement.

KamiKaze43v3r- Grimmjow made an appearance in this chapter as a spirit and a possessed person, but his role as to the future hasn't been revealed yet. Don't worry I won't keep you in suspense too long! …maybe. And about the tree… it'll be dropped for now, but I'll definitely come back to it, it's got a pretty important part to play still.

riekie- Thank you! Being original is one of my favorite compliments to receive. Ha ha, I took your guess a step further, I had Grimmjow murder him! Don't worry, story isn't even close to done.


	3. Just Another Day

A/N- Ha ha, I'm back! Honestly, your kind words motivate me to write sooner than I would otherwise, but I've been so busy lately. So, sorry for the wait. I don't know if I'll ever be getting things up in less than a week. One of my readers was disappointed that I killed off Rukia. Don't worry! This is one story where the situation changes from day to day! Ha ha, you'll see what I mean if you keep reading!

Pairings- Grimm/Ichi. In this chapter they might have an actual conversation! So you know… viewer discretion advised.

Warnings/Disclaimer- I'm warning you that I claim nothing.

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Chapter 3- Just Another Day

I woke with a start, gasping for breath.

I was wet, but not with water, as I had expected. I was sweating profusely, causing me to feel quite unclean. I felt fine. Normally, this wouldn't have been a cause for concern, but my last memory was of me losing consciousness underwater.

I'm no doctor, but that's generally a bad thing. I'm pretty sure I drowned, or at least blacked out due to lack of oxygen. I should feel like crap right now.

I shook off the last remnants of sleep and examined my surroundings. The general weirdness of my morning continued. I was in my own room! I definitely did not expect that. I had to wonder what exactly was going on.

I mean, I was pretty used to strange dreams. Ghosts had communicated with me lots of times through dreams, it was easier for them. But usually they had something to say. There weren't even any ghosts in my dream! Ok, well, that wasn't exactly true. There were two.

That Grimmjow guy, was technically a ghost, though certainly not in the traditional sense. But if the ghost was him, he would have had a message, he would have communicated with me better. Especially if he had gone out of his way to enter my dream. There was also the possibility that Rukia had done so, but as far as I knew she was very much alive.

Add that onto the fact that I had been so sure that it had been real, and I had a recipe for confusion. In the end I decided that it was just a crazy dream with no basis in reality, brought on by my being overworked and my constant dealings with the spiritual realm.

I was just about to get out of bed when my door opened up.

"Wake up!"

Suddenly, there was Karin. She looked a bit put out, like she didn't even want to be here in the first place. I just stared at her, surprised.

"Yuzu sent me to wake you up. If you sleep in any later then you won't have time to get ready for school." She explained.

"Oh." I said "Hey, Karin what day is it today?"

"Are you even awake? It's Monday." She answered incredulously.

That settled it. Dream Theory: Accepted.

I began to quickly take my clothes off, wanting to wash all the sweat away before heading to school. I had a towel around my waist, and was about to head to the bathroom, when Karin came back.

"Oh, I forgot to mention something." She stated.

I raised an eyebrow, indicating that she should go on.

She rolled her eyes, but went on "Dad's going to be away for awhile. I've no idea how long."

That stopped me cold. Dad was gone in my dream, too. It had to be a coincidence. That or he had told me in passing, and I'd forgotten but my subconscious remembered. That had to be it.

"Okay." I eventually responded, ignoring her curious gaze.

While I took my shower, and couldn't help but notice the black bracelet on my arm. I wished that that part of last night had been the dream too. In the dream, it had played an integral part. Urahara had told me to say "Absolution Activate" when I met someone I knew, but didn't know. The dream Orihime had been that person, so it made sense, in a way. The only odd part was that he'd told me that BEFORE I'd had the dream. How had he known I'd need to say that. It didn't quite add up.

Then I remembered that just because he told me to say words the my subconscious self said in a dream, did NOT mean he knew I was going to need them. It just meant that I had incorporated his words into my dream. I guess I was more creative than I thought.

My uniform was as gray as ever, but I was pretty used to it, so it didn't bother me. I went downstairs for a quick breakfast and was greeted with a surprise.

"Hello Ichigo!"

There was Rukia, sitting there smiling, energetic, and very much alive. Despite knowing that a dream was just a dream, I was still a little relieved.

"So Rukia, you've managed to live through another night!" I called to her.

She frowned "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Err… nothing." I muttered.

Her smile was back and she seemed to be in a good mood this morning.

"Be grateful, Ichigo! I've decided to walk to school with you this morning!" She informed me.

"That's fine." I agreed, but I was still wondering something "Hey, Rukia? How long were you planning to come over this morning?"

"Since last night. Why? Does it matter?" She asked.

That would mean that in my dream, she might have come to my house and missed me because I left earlier. I felt like that was important, but I had no idea why, especially because that whole scenario was just a dream. Letting it go, I shook my head at her.

"In that case, shall we get going? I have to meet Tatsuki and Orihime in the library for a project planning session." She informed me.

Another oddity to stack on top of all the others. I was pretty sure I hadn't been told about that, and yet the dream Tatsuki had said something along those lines. Of course, Rukia and Orihime hadn't been able to arrive for… complicated reasons.

I didn't answer her, but just nodded and we exited the house together. Just as we began to turn right to begin walking towards school, who should show up but Orihime.

"Ichigo! Rukia!" She called, running to catch up with us "What a coincidence!"

Yeah. Coincidence. That word had been a more regular part of my vocabulary lately than I cared to admit. This meant that in the dream, if Orihime had come walking along at about this time, Rukia would have already missed me and gone ahead. This also struck me as somehow important, but I couldn't quite place it. I really needed to stop taking my dreams so seriously.

"Hello Orihime." I greeted, Rukia doing the same.

"I was running so I could get to school before it started so me, Rukia, and Tatsuki could work on a project, but if Rukia's here, then I must not be running as late as I thought I was!" She chattered.

I blocked it out, making non-committal answers from time to time. I didn't really like talking that much, and fortunately Rukia was more than willing to make up the difference for my lack of conversation. That was one reason I liked her, I suppose. She didn't force me into a group discussion if I didn't want to be in one.

The two of them seemed more than happy to chat the morning away. I was lost in thought, trying to put the pieces of my dream together. Several things I had no knowledge of had been revealed to me in a dream, and events were playing out similarly as the Monday of the dream. Did that mean I was starting to get prophetic dreams? I hoped not, my life was complicated enough as it is. If it was a prophecy, then what was it warning against? Things were different today than that day, did that mean I'd already changed whatever was supposed to happen.

These were the thoughts I was dealing with when it happened. Or should I say, HE happened. I was gazing aimlessly to the left, waiting with the girls for a traffic light to change, and all of a sudden he appeared. The blue haired man from my dream. He was jogging at a slow pace, but clearly not for exercise. Even from a distance, the shivers I felt confirmed my suspicions. He was definitely a ghost.

I had to wonder, however, why he was here at all. It was clear to me now that the dream I'd had last night was due, at least in part, to this ghost's influence. But if that was the case, why hadn't he come to me with his problems yet? Ghosts may be confused when they are newly dead, but when they found someone they could communicate with, they generally latched on. However, I hadn't seen Grimmjow since the dream. He should have appeared to me by now.

While thinking this, he had begun to disappear from my view. I realized that he was the key to all of this, so I decided to chase after him. Luckily the crosswalk signal for the street in his direction had just flashed on. I sprinted across the street, leaving Rukia and Orihime in my dust.

"Ichigo, where are you going!" Rukia shouted.

I managed to respond "Ghost! Cover for me!"

I didn't look back, but I knew they were probably pretty confused. I rarely took off towards a ghost like this, but he had answers and I wanted them. The girls, most likely Rukia who could actually lie, would cover for me. They were pretty used to doing that for me by now. Some of my teachers were cool about my poorly explained absences, and others didn't like it at all. Dr. Aizen was one of the teachers who seemed to hate it when I was gone. He usually tried to punish me, but because my dad knew I could see spirits and often dealt with the school administration when it came to that, Aizen couldn't really do much. He just asked me a few extra questions in class and was more condescending than usual.

Though, to be fair, those things were rarely problems I considered before taking the day off of school to deal with a ghost. I just did it on instinct, when I judged it to be necessary.

Grimmjow had to be around here somewhere, though I had lost sight of him. The further I ran, the more I started to get annoyed. This Grimmjow person had planted a dream in my head. Quite a gruesome dream, in some respects. Then, he hadn't even explained himself or bothered to come to me for help. Clearly, he was messing with my head. The thought made me angry. I'd still cross him over and help him if he needed it, but I definitely wasn't going to go out of my way for him.

Unfortunately, at the time, the thought hadn't occurred to me that that was exactly what I was doing right now. Adding to my overall frustration was the fact that I seemed to have lost the spirit entirely.

I sighed aloud. I'd run myself into downtown Karakura and had nothing to show for it but more problems to deal with tomorrow. Rukia and Orihime had probably already been forced to lie on my behalf, so if I returned to school now their credibility would take a hit. Looks like I had a day off with nothing to do.

My stomach growled and I realized for the first time that I had skipped breakfast this morning. I ducked into the first place that looked like it served food. It happened to be a café that I'd never been in before. It's name was The Same As It Never Was Café. That sure was a mouthful, but it had a dreamlike quality to it, I suppose.

There were people in the shop, chatting amicably. The place did indeed have a mystic feel to it, with odd but beautiful designs on the walls and various spiritual knick knacks. It was also darker than I'd expect a café to be, but I wasn't really looking for atmosphere, just food.

There was no line at the register, so I ordered some sort of sugary coffee drink and a scone. The cashier, whose name tag read "Yoruichi", cheerfully took my order and my money. I waited a few moments while my order was completed. When I received my pastry and drink I began to walk towards the seating area to find a table, but a voice stopped me.

"Wait a moment, please."

I turned around and saw the cashier, who I was now aware was quite the beauty, smiling at me.

"I have something to tell you." She said mysteriously.

I didn't exactly believe her, but humored the comment anyway "Okay. What is it?"

"A demon can only inhabit the body of one who doesn't fully reject it. If a demon can't be expelled, the next best course of action is to get the host body to expel it." Yoruichi whispered to me conspiratorially.

I have to admit, whatever I was expecting from this shop, it wasn't this. I awkwardly thanked her, to which she smiled.

She giggled "How kind of you to humor me!"

I decided that maybe I wanted to eat my breakfast on the go instead of staying in the shop. Near the café there was a small play park for children. Normally that wouldn't have attracted me, but the swings seemed to as good a seat as any. I sat down and chowed down. My scone was devoured and I was nursing my coffee when my thoughts began to drift to Grimmjow.

'_What's his deal anyway! I try to help him and he messes with my head!' _I told myself.

"Grimmjow… Jaegerjaques…" I said aloud, feeling the name out.

"You called?"

I screamed and threw the remains of my coffee into the air. I fell backwards off of the swing and into the woodchips. I looked up and locked eyes with none other than the ghost I'd been searching for.

"G-Grimmjow!" I stuttered.

"The one and only." He confirmed, smiling at my predicament "How do you know my name, anyway?"

"Uh, duh! You put a dream in my head!" I angrily fired back.

He seemed a little surprise, and for the first time I wondered if what I had assumed was actually correct or not.

"A dream? You saw me in a dream? I don't remember that." He told himself. He saw I was about to speak so he interrupted me. "I don't know how you know me, but I would definitely remember if I put a dream in your head."

That dried up whatever I had to say. This muscular ghost hadn't put a dream in my head? I didn't want to believe it, but this was beyond just messing with me. He definitely would have told me whatever he needed to by now. I decided to wonder about that later. For now, there was a ghost, one that probably needed my help.

"So anyway, it should be obvious by now that I can see you." I informed him. "Is there anything I can do to help you cross over?"

He grinned at me, obviously happy that things were going his way.

"Well, I won't be crossing over anytime soon, but I could use your help. I suppose it's a pretty unusual request, even for a ghost." He explained.

Boy, did that sound familiar. I must have heard it somewhere before. Yeah… in… my… dream…

"Let me guess. It has to do with your body." I guessed.

His eyes widened considerably. I considered laughing, but the whole situation was too absurd to do so.

He grinned again and began talking. "How did you know? I need to get back inside it."

"The dead can't come back to life. It's best if you just accept that." I said, a bit sadly.

He frowned. "I agree. But I'm not dead. There's something else in my body and I can't get back inside."

THAT got my attention. That sounded an awfully lot like my dream. I hope that wherever this was going, it ended more pleasantly. Clearly, Grimmjow had never met me before, and yet I'd met him. This shouldn't be possible. In all my years of dealing with spirits, nothing this weird had ever happened before.

"I may be able to do something about that." I admitted to him.

I had done something similar to the dream Orihime, after all. Maybe there was something I could do for Grimmjow.

"Great!" He exclaimed "Let's get moving… uh… what was your name again?"

"It's Ichigo. Ichigo Kurosaki." I told him, hoping I'd never have to introduce myself to this guy again.

He stopped moving entirely. It was as if he had frozen solid. His eyes had narrowed like he was deep in thought.

"Grimmjow? What's wrong?" I asked him.

"That name…" He muttered "Straw…berry? Sounds so familiar. Maybe we have met before and I just forgot."

Now it was my turn to freeze. Now the guy appeared to have vague memories of meeting me! The strange events I've been through today are never ending. Grimmjow and I had indeed met before, but just now I'd been convinced it had been a crazy dream that'd had no connection to anything.

He had recovered from his apparent surprise over my name and had begun moving again.

"Hey, Grimmjow, where are we going?" I demanded.

He glanced back at me. "To the woods. That's where my body is."

"Why is it in the woods!" I burst out.

"I'll tell ya on the way Ichi!" He shouted back, as he got further ahead.

I sighed. Did I wake up? Or was I still dreaming?

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A/N- I wonder where this is all going… ha ha, I have to admit, this is very fun to write! I feel bad for not having much Grimm/Ichi yet, but it's sort of getting there. It'll be quite some time before they're together. After all they just met today! Or, yesterday, in a dream… sort of, not really… now I'm confusing myself so I'm gonna end this note.

Time to answer reviews!

seikoxxx- Ha ha, yeah I love Rukia to death, but I didn't expect that to be so literal in this story! Well, don't be mad at me, cause she's back! Though, her role isn't as big. Maybe Orihime will die later, but I don't really hate her so maybe not… And thanks for the compliments!

KamiKaze43v3r- Here it is! Another chapter, hope this one is entertaining as well.

albeltextra- Thank you! I'm going, I'm going… =)

Earth Coyote- Ha ha, slightly obsessive is a good thing! Thank you, I'm glad my fears were groundless and the story seems to entertain those that read it. Well, this is my first bleach fan fiction, so I don't have much of a following, but you're helping!


	4. Caught in Suspension

A/N- Yo. Yeah, the delay… it sucks I know. I'm quite sorry about the delay on this one. True, I did have a computer virus and a heavy work schedule definitely played a role, but the main reason this took so long is writer's block. This is a pretty in depth story and I wanted to do it right, but I wasn't sure which direction to take it. I had to rewrite this thing about four times. So I'm sorry for the length between updates, but I hope to be able to write more regularly (don't hold your breath, though.). Thank you for all the positive reviews! I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as you seem to have enjoyed the other three!

Pairings/Warnings/Disclaimer- It's all the same stuff you've already read or ignored and moved on so just see earlier chapters for this.

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Chapter 4- Caught in Suspension

Grimmjow began telling me his story about how his body had ended up possessed in the middle of the woods, but I tuned him out almost as soon as he started. I'd begun listening with every intention of paying attention, but there was a slight problem with that.

He was lying.

I could tell right away, lies are something I just sense sometimes. That's not to say Grimmjow was a bad liar, quite the opposite. If I hadn't had a supernatural assist, I'd probably have believed every word. Anyway, his bogus story involved him attempting to reach his favorite liquor store, but realizing that it was going to close soon, he decided to take a short cut through the woods. After a minute or so of running to get to his destination he'd tripped and woken up outside of his body. Or so he falsely claimed.

I wasn't sure exactly what part of the story was a lie, but I was going to guess most of it. Especially the reason why he was out late at night. As a punishment for lying I asked him tons of questions about his "adventure", he had to come up with details on the spot. I admit he did pretty well, no obvious lies, but I could tell that he was beginning to get flustered.

"Well, we're almost there!" Grimmjow said, appearing to be relieved that my torrent of questions would end.

I nodded and began to concentrate on making my way through the dense foliage. Grimmjow, on the other hand, seemed to be playing with his ability to phase through trees, running ahead without paying attention to where he was going and then running back towards me.

Gradually, we started to go deeper into the forest, the woods becoming almost unrecognizable. Or, that's what I thought would happen. Slowly but steadily I began to recognize the area we were traveling in.

"Grimmjow?" I began to ask, causing him to glance at me, "Just where is your body, anyway?"

"Oh, it's in a clearing just up ahead. We're almost there. It's near the stump of some big tree." He explained.

That proved my suspicions of where we were and why it was so familiar. The forest began to thin ahead of us and after a few moments we burst through the trees and found ourselves in a clearing I'd visited just last night.

"I was here just last night." I commented.

Grimmjow's head whipped around "Really! Why were you here, huh?"

He sounded a little aggressive and it made me feel defensive.

"Why should I tell you? You won't even tell me the real reason you came here yourself!" I spat out back at him.

He blinked in surprise, the tension between us evaporating "You knew? How did you know?"

I glared at him "I can sometimes sense lies, asshole."

"Cool."

That's all he said before turning around and beginning to look around for something.

"Hey, Ichi! It was really dark when I left my body, so I'm not quite sure where in this area it is! Wanna help look?" He called to me.

I sighed and nodded, apparently we were going to ignore the whole issue of the reasons for our presence's in the clearing that night, which was fine by me. It's not like I cared what this Grimmjow character did in his free time. I just wanted to get this over with and move on with my normal life, whatever that was these days.

"Hey, Ichigo! Over here! And come quick, I don't look so good!" Grimmjow called from the other end of the clearing.

I sprinted over, took one look, and instantly knew it was bad. Grimmjow's body was lying prone on the ground, looking more knocked out than asleep, as I had expected him to look. The more troubling aspect of his body was that it seemed to be veiled in a thick miasma. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. Judging by Grimmjow's worried look, he must have been able to see it too.

I grimaced, knowing what I'd have to do "I might be able to fix this. Wish me luck."

Grimmjow raised his eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

I took a deep breath, and this time I closed my eyes, remembering the bright flash that would emit from my bracelet, assuming that my dream wasn't actually a dream, though I knew that didn't make any sense at all.

"Absolution Activate."

As I suspected, a strong light emitted from my bracelet, but because I'd closed my eyes the pain wasn't all that bad. I could feel myself begin to slip into another state, but as I did, I felt something tug on my arm.

The light slowly died down and I judged it safe to open my eyes. As I did, I sensed a presence to my right. I swiftly turned that way, full of panic, but it died down when I realized it was only Grimmjow, who had just let go of my arm. I was pretty surprised to see that he was able to travel with me, but I guess it was his body, so it made a little bit of sense. He was looking around with evident curiosity, and for good reason.

The landscape was far different than what I'd found when the same thing had happened with Orihime. There were hills and a road that led up to a giant castle. There was foliage everywhere, but almost no flowers, not that that surprised me. Grimmjow wasn't the type to have them. This was his inner world, after all. At least, that's what I was assuming. It was crisp, I felt almost a chill. Based on the temperature I'd have guessed that it was autumn, but I couldn't tell. Usually the color of the tree's leaves will give a general impression of what season it is, but that couldn't be said for this world. That was because the entire thing was colored in black, white, and shades of gray.

"This place…" Grimmjow began before trailing off.

I looked at him and raised an eyebrow. He glanced over at me, seeming to realize for the first time that I was standing there.

"Oh, it's just… this place feels so familiar…" He slowly stated.

'_That's probably because it's his inner world' _I thought.

"Should we head towards the castle?" I suggested.

He thought it over for a moment before agreeing "Sounds like a plan. I don't have anything better to suggest."

To me, it sounded like he said that last bit a tad grudgingly, as if he felt he should have been able to come up with something better. I didn't mention it, but it did irritate me a little.

We made our way to the castle, which was looking bigger and bigger with every step we took. There was no talking, we mostly just walked and silence and observed our surroundings. After what felt like an hour of walking, we finally approached the castle's gates. I shivered and immediately looked for a way inside, but it turned out to be unnecessary. The gates opened by themselves.

Grimmjow immediately surged forward, and I would have explained to him the benefits of caution, but I had a feeling he would just ignore me. The castle must have had a terrible architect, because it didn't appear to have any rooms. It was just one long pathway, sometimes it went up stairs and sometimes it went down them, but it appeared to be a mostly one way journey with no divergent paths. That was good and bad. We couldn't possibly get lost, but at the same time, if we needed to leave in a hurry there was only one exit. The path was easy to block and easier to be followed on.

"Grimmjow?" I asked, breaking silence.

"What is it, kid?" He answered.

I huffed, a bit offended at the "kid" part, Grimmjow couldn't be THAT much older than me. I sighed, he grinned, and I chose not to give him the satisfaction of reacting too strongly.

"How do you feel?" I asked.

He frowned "I don't talk about that touchy feely crap."

I rolled my eyes, "That's not what I meant. I mean, we're in your body or your head or whatever, and I was wondering if you were feeling weird."

"Why would I feel weird?" he demanded.

I sighed "Well, usually there's only one person in your brain. You. Now there's three. You, me and whatever's possessing you."

"I feel fine." He said, before his eyes narrowed "Wait, what do you mean by possessed? I thought we were here to fix my body!"

My eyes widened. That couldn't be right. Grimmjow wasn't this painfully stupid. How would he NOT know that his body was being taken over by some strange entity? When he saw my shocked look he seemed pleased for a split second before he changed his expression to one of confusion. I thought that was an odd reaction and briefly wondered if he was hiding something, but I deemed explaining the situation more important.

"You're being possessed you idiot! How could you possibly not realize that!" I screamed at him.

That upset him "Yeah, well it's not like I get possessed every day, so how should I know what it feels like!"

I didn't have much of a counter for that argument, but that didn't make me less upset.

I pressed on "Still! You should be able to say something more intelligent than 'fix my body'!"

His eyes narrowed and his tone turned dangerous "Well I'm sorry my vocabulary isn't good enough for you."

The path ahead seemed to expand into an actual room so I proposed to Grimmjow that we put this little discussion. He readily agreed, clearly not wanting to fight. We entered the room at about the same time, only to have doors I hadn't noticed before slam behind us. There was nowhere to go but forward now.

The room appeared to be some sort of throne room. There was a carpet, and though it was gray it reminded me of the ones I'd seen in old movies or described in books. Said carpet led right up to a single throne, occupied by Grimmjow. Well, something that looked like Grimmjow, anyway. Physically, they looked the same, but the color scheme was all wrong. Where Grimmjow had blue hair and eyes, the copy had black. The copy's skin was paler than Ichigo had ever seen skin before.

"Welcome… to my domain." the copy greeted.

The teeth were sharpened to ridiculous points and he spoke in a weird double tone of voice. Grimmjow's voice was definitely in there somewhere, but there was also something else too.

"I think you're mistaken there." I said.

"Oh?" it asked, amused "And how is that?"

"This is Grimmjow's mind! You've just temporarily taken control." I explained.

The copy glared at me "Correction. It WAS his mind. I'm now a permanent, and soon to be only resident."

"No way I'll let that happen!" I cried.

The copy smiled "And how are you going to stop me? That fact that you're here means you must know how to expel me. You know that you have to heal the rift in Grimmjow's emotions that allowed me entrance in the first place, but how well do you even know Grimmjow? What's the rift in his emotions?"

I took a step back, shocked by the copy's words. Technically it was right, I knew next to nothing about Grimmjow. My ability to help him would be severely hampered.

"3...2...1..." it counted down "Time's up Ichigo. You lose."

It rushed towards me at superhuman speeds. It was fast, but not so fast that I didn't have time to react. Luckily my years of fighting and ghostly encounters had honed my reflexes. He grazed my side, but I knew it could have been a lot worse, he'd been aiming for my stomach. I felt the sting of pain sharpen my senses, helping me to focus. I knew this was going to be a though battle that I probably wouldn't win, but I had to try.

Up to this point Grimmjow had remained silent. Watching the back and forth between me and his double. When he saw me get injured, however, his demeanor changed. At the time, I assumed this was because he realized that we were in serious danger. He suddenly had an incredibly angry glare on his face and he was directing it towards his double.

At first the copy only smiled the glare off, not responding to it, but after a time he began to look anxious and nervous, almost fearful.

"No! You can't!" he cried.

"Oh, but I can. Heal the rift in my emotions, huh? Well, I'm doing it right now." The real Grimmjow gloated.

I was totally lost, but whatever Grimmjow was doing, it seemed to be working, so I didn't complain.

"I have one final thing to say." Grimmjow called out to his double.

Said double looked up.

"GET OUT!" Grimmjow bellowed.

In an instant the strange copy of himself was gone, and the world began to dissolve around us. Grimmjow walked over to me. At some point, I'd fallen to the ground, so when he offered his and I took it and he pulled me up. I looked questioningly into his eyes, sensing that something was different about him.

He only shook his head and said "Are you alright?"

I glanced towards my hand that was covering my wound. It was a nasty cut, but I knew from helping out in the clinic that it was nowhere near fatal, so I nodded my head. The world continued to dissolve and I felt myself being lifted up. I tried to grab Grimmjow, in order to bring him with me, but I missed and he wasn't trying.

"What about you!" I called.

He grinned "Ichi. This is my own head. You don't need to worry. I'll be fine."

That kind of made me feel like an idiot. Of course he'd be fine, it was where he was supposed to be! To cover my embarrassment I looked away as I began to drift back to reality. I woke up on the ground with Grimmjow hovering over me.

"You alright?" He asked.

I nodded and began to get up, but there was a blinding pain in my side. I glanced to where it was coming from and saw blood on my shirt. I lifted the material and saw that the cut I'd gotten had translated to the real world. That was good to know for the future.

Grimmjow saw the blood and was a little worried, but I assured him it was nothing.

"So, let's go to the doctor and get that treated." He suggested.

I almost agreed before a thought struck me "No. No, we need to see someone else."

"What could be more important than the doctor?" He argued angrily.

"An inventor. A crazy inventor." I supplied, as if it was the most natural thing in the world

xXxXx

We stood in front of Urahara's shop in the golden light of the late afternoon. We could've been there a lot sooner, but Grimmjow had insisted we at least go to a local pharmacy and treat my wound as best we could. And after that, he had the audacity to force me to walk at an old lady's pace. For "safety", he said. I sort of understood where he was coming from, I mean I was still bleeding and he didn't know my history when it came to injuries, but it was still annoying.

I had absolutely no desire to enter the shop, but I felt that it was necessary to get the answers I needed. I opened the door, the chime ringing in the silence of the store. Urahara was behind a counter, smiling mysteriously, as he always did.

"What's going on?" I asked him, point blank.

He smiled and waved the two of us over to the back of the store. I followed him, remaining on my guard. Grimmjow was silent, acting almost like a bodyguard. Urahara stopped and sat down in what appeared to be a sitting room. He sat down and Grimmjow and myself followed suit.

"So?" I demanded.

Urahara didn't answer right away, he closed his eyes and sighed. He seemed to be about to fall asleep, and I was going to ask again when he suddenly responded, surprising me.

"You made a wish, what you've been experiencing has been a side effect of that." He explained.

I grimaced "That may be, but at the same time that's not all there is to this story, is there? For instance, you put this bracelet on me, and there's people in the shadows manipulating events."

"I admit to the bracelet," Urahara began, "but how do you know there's other people involved."

"I was murdered by them." I said simply, now knowing that what happened in my "dream" was more than that. Too many things weren't adding up for it to be a coincidence.

I saw that my comment startled Grimmjow, and even Urahara seemed a little surprised.

"Are you saying that you're dead, Mr. Kurosaki?" He asked.

"No." I answered "It doesn't matter. Just believe me when I say that there are other people involved."

Urahara hid behind his fan, "Not once did I say I did not believe you Ichigo."

That surprised me. There was more to this man than meets the eye. Just how much more still remained to be seen. Either way, it appeared as if I'd gotten all I could from Urahara. He had either told me all he knew or he wasn't going to say any more. There was no point in staying.

"Well, thank you for telling me what you could. We're leaving." I said. As soon as I did, Grimmjow stood up.

Urahara leapt up and hugged me. The freak actually hugged me! An almost complete stranger!

"Get off me!" I shouted.

I threw him off me and he landed in a heap on the floor. Grimmjow let out an amused chuckle. Whether it was at me or the crazy inventor I didn't know, or care.

"You don't have to be so mean! I was just sad that you were leaving so soon!" He cried from the floor.

"Whatever! See you never, I hope!" I yelled, angry at him.

I reached the door and was about to yank it open when Urahara shouted from behind me.

"Oh, wait!" He called.

I slowly turned around "What?"

"Not you." He said, waving me off "Your intimidating friend over there."

"What about me?" Grimmjow asked, grinning a little. I think he was pleased at being called "intimidating".

"I have something for you." Urahara explained, reaching into his pocket.

He pulled out a blue jewel. It was like the one I had at home, but obviously it was different color. My eyes narrowed.

"Where did you get that?" I demanded.

"Oh this? I found it in the woods, but I'm pretty sure it belongs to your friend here." He said.

Grimmjow looked a bit confused "I've never seen that thing in my life. I don't think it's mine."

Urahara shook his head "Just because you don't recognize it, doesn't mean it isn't yours. Here."

He held his hand out and Grimmjow looked at it curiously. He glanced at me and I nodded, encouraging him to take it.

This was an interesting development. Just what were these jewels and what did they do?

* * *

A/N- Yep, now the question of the jewel Ichigo received earlier is re-raised. Just what does it do? Why does Grimmjow have one too? These question will eventually be answered. At least I told you why things have been weird for Ichi (because of his wish). All the answers will come in time, but who knows how long I'll take to reveal them all.

Now I'll respond to reviews!

seikoxxx- Yep, there are gonna be a lot of… I don't know if I'd call them twists, but a lot of big reveals. This, after all, is a story with a lot of mysteries.

miszxbrii- Yes the woods are indeed a bit spooky. They'll factor in heavily, specifically that tree stump.

KamiKaze43v3r- I told you why Ichi's life has been stranger than usual lately, it's because he made that wish. However, he's still not quite aware of just what it is he's wished for.

Eternal Love's Eclipse- Thank you! That's what I'm going for. Everything ties in with everything else, but right now it looks like nothing is connected. I'll make things more clear as time goes on.


	5. History Lesson

A/N- Hey! What's up everyone? See, I told you the next chapter wouldn't take as long this time. The last chapter only got one review! I kinda deserve it since it took a month to get it out there, but if you like my story, please leave a review! If you do leave a review, would you mind telling me if Grimmjow is too OOC for your liking? I was thinking he was a bit too nice…

Pairings/Warnings/Disclaimer- It's all the same stuff from chapter 1

* * *

Chapter 5- History Lesson

"So, Ichi, what do we do next?" Grimmjow asked.

And because he asked that, using the pronoun "we" I realized something.

I turned to face him "Why are you even here?"

"What do you mean by that?" He questioned, cocking his head to the side.

"Well, don't get me wrong, it's not like I hate you, but" I began "I've helped you get back in your body. Our time together should be over. I guess helping me with my injury was nice of you, but there was no need for you follow me to Urahara's, now that I think of it."

He looked down and away, looking a bit guilty, maybe. Or maybe he was just shy. Though that wasn't likely so I was inclined to believe the former. So what exactly was he guilty about?

He opened and closed his mouth several times before finally speaking "You've got a point there, Ichi. The thought'd crossed my mind, but I just thought that, you know, we might not meet again and that I should repay my debt to you while I still have the chance."

Well that… that was almost sweet. I shook my head quickly to dispel the foreign thought. Admittedly, I'd only met Grimmjow recently, but I couldn't imagine anything he did as sweet without almost bursting out loud into laughter. I'd never actually had this problem with spirits before. They never came back after I'd helped them to "pay me back" or whatever. He was clearly doing this out of a misguided sense of debt to me. He wasn't being sweet, he was being stupid. I didn't need a repayment.

I sighed at him "That's nice of you, but it's really not necessary."

He glared at me "It's necessary to ME. I know that you probably saved my life, and I definitely know that, even if you were unaware, that you were risking your own life to help me. So just shut up and let me tag along."

And that was the end of that conversation.

Realistically, I wondered if there was anything left for me to do today. I'd helped Grimmjow, and as far as I knew Rukia and Orihime were alive. Mission accomplished, as far as I was concerned. Maybe it was time to head home and forget this whole mess had ever happened. However, a nagging desire for answers wouldn't leave me alone. There were too many unanswered questions that were up in the air. I doubted that my helping Grimmjow would be the end of my troubles. I decided that a little research was necessary, especially about the tree stump where I'd made the wish.

"I suppose I do have one thing left to do today that you could help me with." I admitted.

He smirked in triumph at me "What is it?"

xXxXx

Twenty minutes later found us at the Karakura Public Library. Grimmjow had his nose wrinkled in disgust, he didn't seem to have a fondness for books.

"What's wrong?" I asked innocently, even though I already knew the answer.

"I don't like books." He answered simply, looking uncomfortable admitting this fact.

"Well, feel free to just go home then. I need to do some research, you probably couldn't even help that much anyway." I said casually, knowing that it would shame him into staying.

"What? No! I said I'd help you and I will." He ground out, in a determined voice, like he was preparing to go into battle.

"Okay. Thanks I guess."

"No problem."

I grabbed a computer and went to the search engine for its catalogue of books. I hesitated a moment, wondering what exactly I was searching for. I needed more information on the tree, what the town had been like before it was cut down, and more importantly, what it was like afterwards. While I was at it, I should also confirm whether or not Rukia's little fairytale had any basis in reality or whether it was just another one of her flights of fancy.

I located the periodical section first. I knew that, according to Rukia, the tree had been cut down fifteen years ago, so I sent Grimmjow to search through the newspapers of that time period and find any mentions of a disaster of some sort or mentions of a tree being cut down, and told him to meet me at a nearby table when he was finished. He diligently followed my request and headed over to that section.

As for myself, I searched for myths and legends of Karakura Town. Surprisingly, there were several books that dealt with Karakura Town alone, as well as a couple that dealt with the surrounding area. I wrote down the authors of about half a dozen of them down and headed over to the fiction section, which was apparently where books about myths and legends were kept. When I was about halfway through the list something struck me as odd. All of the books I was looking for were checked out. _Myths of Karakura _was gone, as was _Karakura: Town of Legends. _This continued until I had reached the very end of my list. It was the least promising book of the bunch. _A History of Karakura Town. _It seemed like it would be more fact than myth.

Disappointed, but still hopeful, I headed over to where I was supposed to meet Grimmjow. I began to thumb through the book skimming over everything that I deemed unimportant and thoroughly analyzing everything else. I'd gotten about a quarter of the way through the book when Grimmjow returned, holding a large stack of newspapers. He had a grimace on his face.

"What's up?" I asked, feeling mildly concerned.

He sighed "I looked for the newspapers like you asked but…"

"But what?"

"But the articles from the last half of the year are missing. I mean, I grabbed all the relevant papers from the first half of that year and the first half of the next, but I think most of what you're looking for is gone." He finished.

I began to frown. That was odd, both of the materials I needed were gone. This was beginning to get really weird. I didn't want to sound paranoid, but the whole thing was starting to look like a conspiracy to me.

"Ok, we'll work with what we have and deal with the missing information later. Could you mark the articles that talk about a disaster or a tree being cut down or crime rate, please?" I requested, before returning to the book in front of me.

Grimmjow sighed, glancing at the big pile of newspapers "That could take awhile."

"Then you better get started." I retorted, not looking up.

He growled in protest, but got to work all the same.

About halfway through the book, I'd finally reached something I thought might be useful. It was a short chapter entitled "Karakura as a Spiritual Hotspot". It went into detail about how Karakura Town became known as a place to go for haunting, it, of course, focused on the political and social aspects of how this happened, rather than the supernatural. However, there was a sub-section of the chapter that actually described a few of the myths. The one that caught my interest was called _The Legend of the Spirit Tree._

I guess Rukia wasn't full of crap after all. In the story it talked about a tree that had protected Karakura town for generations. It was known as The Spirit Tree because it was believed that when someone died, their spirit was absorbed into the tree and all the spirits inside it worked together to create good fortune in the town. I knew from experience that a ghost could move things around and enter dreams and make small, generally temporary changes on the environment, depending on their strength. Usually angry ghosts had the largest effect on the physical plane. I wondered if a bunch of ghosts banded together, if they could really do something like protect the town.

Not only that, but I'd made a wish using the tree's supposed power as a catalyst. If it was cut down, though, then it would stand to reason that nothing would happen, because all the power would have been gone. Obviously, there was more at play here than the story mentioned. There was also the fact that it didn't mention what happened when the tree was cut down. The book was written before that. For specifics on what exactly happened when the tree was felled maybe the periodicals would help more, even if some of them were missing.

"Hey, I'm done marking the articles." Grimmjow's voice broke into my thoughts.

'_Good timing.' _I thought.

"Great. Thanks." I said "Would you mind waiting while I read this?"

He glared at me, but didn't protest.

"Fine." He gave in "I think I'm gonna take a walk, though. Get some fresh air, clear my head."

"Ok. How about I meet you outside the library when I'm done?"

He nodded in agreement and left me alone.

Whoever had taken the last half of the articles I needed certainly hadn't been very thorough. Sure, he or she had taken the most critical part of the text, but there were about two weeks of articles leading up to the incident talking about various groups staging protests against logging of the nearby forest. Most of them were environmental organizations, and they didn't really catch my eye, except for one.

'_The Karakura Paranormal Research Society? Now what are you guys doing protesting the logging of a forest?' _I wondered to myself.

I figured it probably had something to do with the Spirit Tree. Maybe they had more information than I could find out on my own. It was worth looking into, so I filed that information away for later. There was also the first half of the next year. All but one of the articles Grimmjow had marked dealt with the increased crime rate. It was something I was already aware of, but it was nice to know that the timing of all the incidents was starting to fit together. The one that was the most interesting, however, was one that talked about the "disaster" that struck the town. According to the article, it was the one year anniversary of the disaster, or August 6th. The timeframe there also fit in with what little information I had so far. It was strange though, the article talked on and on about "the disaster", and how horrible it was, but it never goes into specifics. For all I knew there could have been a flood, a fire, or even a war. It was weird. I know that reporting fifteen years ago would have been a bit different, but there wasn't an excuse for this shoddy reporting.

I placed all of the materials back where they belonged just as a PA system announced that the library was closing. I exited the building with a few answers and a whole lot more questions.

Grimmjow wasn't there when I got back so I sat on a nearby bench and waited for him. He came by only minutes after I'd sat down, looking just the same as when we'd parted ways temporarily.

"Yo."

"Hey."

"… We done yet?"

"That depends on you."

"How so?"

"Do you know where the Karakura Paranormal Research Society is?"

xXxXx

Surprisingly he DID know where it was. He said he had a crazy friend that was into that sort of thing, so he'd even been inside the building a few times. He said it was weird and that I shouldn't go, but I ignored him.

We were standing outside the building arguing. I didn't see what the big deal was, I'd just go inside scope things out, maybe get some info and then leave. Grimmjow, however was totally against the idea.

"Look, you won't learn anything and you'll have to deal with the freaks inside!" Grimmjow shouted at me.

"How the hell could you possibly know that, you idiot!" I yelled back, edging my way up the steps towards the door.

"I just do!"

I ignored that rather childish comment and grasped the handle to the building and pulled. Nothing happened. Oops, looks like nobody's there.

"It's locked." I admitted.

I turned back to Grimmjow and I saw him look incredibly relieved for a second.

"What's with that look?" I demanded.

"What look?" He asked, trying to evade the question.

"The 'someone was holding a gun to my head, but decided not to shoot' look." I elaborated.

He grinned "That's a pretty specific look. I don't think that I had it."

I rolled my eyes "You know what I mean. Now tell me."

He frowned, "I just didn't want you to go in there only to not find anything."

_Liar._

There it was again, the feeling he was lying… I didn't usually get the sense that someone was lying this often, so there were three explanations for this. One was that it was a coincidence. Sure, it was happening more often lately, but that was hardly the strangest thing that had happened to me lately. A second possible explanation was that Grimmjow simply lied a lot. If he had a huge volume of lies, then it would make sense that I'd pick up a few more than usual. The third, and least desirable explanation was that I was just in tune with the guy. It had happened from time to time when I befriended someone. I'd be able to tell when they were keeping a secret from me with greater accuracy, though I suppose that's not that much different from a normal friendship.

I didn't like that explanation for two reasons. One, I did not want to be close to Grimmjow. I'd rather we just go our separate ways. Two, this sense was usually a two way street, which meant he may be able to sense certain things about me, if he was spiritually inclined.

"Whatever." I finally answered him "I'm going home, and you should too. I doubt we'll meet again, so goodbye."

I walked away without giving him a chance to say anything.

* * *

A/N- This chapter's a little bit on the short side, isn't it? Ah well, at least you got some answers and even a bit of a Grim/Ichi moment! I'm not gonna lie to you guys, this story is definitely more about the plot than their romance or lack thereof at this point. Realistically, I can't really see a good place to put a lemon, though things change and the perfect opportunity may present itself, I just wanted to let you know that I'm only gonna do it if it feels natural for the characters.

And now to answer the one and only review I got!

Eternal Love's Eclipse- Some more sort-of answers in this chapter, as I'm sure you realized. I just want to clarify that Ichigo's ability to detect lies is not always on. That is to say he doesn't sense them whenever anybody lies, just occasionally. Grimmjow's past and his reasons for lying will be important. Whether as a side story to bring the two closer together or as a part of the main plot, I haven't decided.


	6. Encroaching Darkness

A/N- Not much to say this time. Hope you enjoy this chapter, there will be some action and a few answers will be revealed. Oh yeah, Gin has an appearance in this chapter. Lots of people write him with a sort of accent, but in the show he's actually one of the most well spoken characters in terms of diction, so I'm not sure where that comes from. Anyway, he won't have one.

Pairings/Disclaimer- Same stuff from chapter 1

Warnings- Violence? It's not too bad.

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Chapter 6- Encroaching Darkness

I woke up and it was Monday.

Again.

I was really beginning to get sick of waking up on Mondays, which wasn't my favorite day on the best of circumstances. That and Karin was waking me up even earlier than the last Monday I'd lived through.

"Wake up! You have a visitor!" Karin yelled, while kicking me.

It was rude, but effective.

"Ok, ok! Tell Rukia I'll be down in a minute." I answered.

"It's not Rukia, it's a guy." she told me.

"Oh. Who? Is it Renji?" I asked.

She shook her head "no".

"Then who is it?" I wondered.

She rolled her eyes "Why don't you come downstairs and find out?"

She left the room without giving me time to respond. That kid was turning into more and more of a brat every day. I sighed to myself and got ready for school.

I trudged downstairs, ready for anything, or so I thought. Because there in my kitchen was none other than Grimmjow Jaegerjaques. My movement stopped and my jaw dropped. What the hell was this guy doing here! I've always been sort of a simple man so I just yelled what I was thinking.

"What the hell are you doing here, Grimmjow!"

He grinned and gestured towards my sisters "Now, that's not a very nice way to treat the classmate you're working on a project with!"

He clearly wanted me to play along with his lie, but I wasn't having it.

"You're not wearing a uniform." I pointed out.

"I'm a transfer student that hasn't gotten one yet, you know that!" He lied.

"I've never seen you before in my life."

"You called me by name earlier."

"You're my arch-enemy."

"That doesn't even make sense."

"You look like you're thirty two."

"I can't help my devilish good looks!"

I rolled my eyes "Yeah, cause that's what I said."

He frowned a bit at the insult but quickly recovered "Well, in any case, it seems we don't have any problems here!"

For what seemed like the tenth time that morning I sighed and just gave in. He was too stubborn, and I did sort of need to talk to him anyway, especially since he seemed to be going through what I had been for the last few days. There was also the fact that Yuzu and Karin were staring at me like I was brain damaged.

I elected to skip the awkward breakfast at home that was sure to follow. Also, Rukia was supposed to arrive soon and I wanted to leave before she got there, that would have been sure to complicate matters. Of course, I felt bad leaving when I knew she'd be coming by and I felt like there was something really wrong with leaving her alone, but I could always talk to her at school.

"Ok, Grimmjow let's go get some breakfast and we'll talk about… our project." I suggested.

He turned serious and agreed with me. I began walking in a familiar area, I recognized it as the place I had chased Grimmjow through when he'd still been a ghost. Of course, Grimmjow didn't need to know that I'd been chasing after him. He'd probably just make fun of me. I saw a familiar café and decided that this early in the morning we could probably get some breakfast and have a quiet conversation without being disturbed.

The Same As It Never Was Café, come to think of it, something weird happened to me here, too. This whole town was crazy, really.

"Ok let's order, then talk." I requested.

Grimmjow sighed, annoyed. I think he either wasn't a morning person, a breakfast person, or a waiting person. Or all three. Probably all three.

I went up to the counter and began to order, "Hi, could I please have-"

"Excuse me, are you Ichigo Kurosaki?" The cashier asked.

This caught me by surprise. I studied her face to try and see if I'd met her somewhere before. She was petite, but nowhere near as small as Rukia. She had a very militant and serious air about her, so much so that I was certain if I'd ever met her I'd remember. Her nametag read "Soi Fon".

"Um, yes. How do you know me?" I questioned.

She answered curtly "Ms. Shihoin requested that I give this to you, if you should arrive before she did."

The woman handed me a package and cup filled with a familiar drink. I opened the bag and a realization hit me. This was the exact same order I'd made when I'd been here the last time! What was going on? Was Shihoin the girl I met earlier her last name? Did this Yoruichi somehow also know that the day kept repeating itself? It didn't seem likely, but there wasn't much of another explanation. While lost in my thoughts Grimmjow had both ordered and received his order. He gestured towards a table in the back of the shop and I dumbly followed him.

"So…" he began, snapping me out of my reverie, "care to explain what's going on, as well as this?"

He reached into his pocket and pulled something out. It was the blue gem that he'd received from Urahara yesterday.

I was confused.

"What's so weird about you having the jewel you got yesterday?" I wondered.

He gave me a look that said "Are you really this stupid?"

He explained himself to me "Ichigo, I didn't get this yesterday. I got it on a different Monday where different things happened than will happen on this Monday."

I was embarrassed at being called out by Grimmjow. I should have been able to figure that out without his help. I guess I was just off my game today.

"Yeah, that is weird I responded. I have a red one, but I left it there." I told him.

His eyes narrowed "Is that so?"

"Yeah." I answered "Why?"

"Check your pockets." He requested.

"Why should I do that?" I asked, defensively.

"Just do it!" He demanded.

His angry tone surprised me. Enough so that I did what he said without arguing any further. I reached into each pocket on either side of my pants, and felt something that I was sure I hadn't placed there. I closed my fist around it and brought it up so both Grimmjow and myself could see it. I unclenched my fist, and there in my hand was a blood red jewel.

"See? Told ya." Grimmjow said triumphantly.

I stared into my hand, unable to process the visual information that my eyes were sending my brain. I'd never put this thing in my pocket. Well actually, something did register. It looked a bit dirtier and not as shiny as I remembered it. That wasn't the point, though. The point was that not once throughout the three Mondays did I do place this jewel in my pocket. Somehow, despite all that was going on, I found THIS to be the most unbelievable. Sure, weird stuff was happening, but I'd always put trust and faith in myself, and this little sphere was threatening to shatter it.

"Um… earth to Ichi? You still there?" I vaguely heard Grimmjow ask.

"Yeah… Yes, I'm fine." I said, before realizing something, "Hey wait! You're not a ghost!"

"Or am I?" Grimmjow countered mysteriously.

I blinked a couple times and just stared at him. What did he just say?

"Ha ha, just kidding Ichi! You should have seen your face!" He laughed.

That made me scowl at him. In light of everything that was going on I didn't think it was that funny.

"Whatever. You're solid. Why?" I wondered, getting us back on point.

"I guess it's because whatever was possessing me couldn't do so when I changed my state of mind. So, now that I've apparently been caught in a time loop with my present state of mind, it wasn't possible for it to stay inside me." Grimmjow explained.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense…" I trailed off thoughtfully "So how did you change your mindset, anyway? I meant to ask earlier, but I forgot."

Grimmjow looked surprised at my question and got a bit flustered "I'd been worrying about someone and myself in relation to them, but I decided to stop worrying and take care of it myself instead of leaving it to fate."

"Take care of what?" I asked.

He stubbornly refused to answer my question. I tried to get him to answer, but he wasn't budging on the issue. When he changed the subject, I let him.

"Anyway, you never answered my question about what's going on, did you?" Grimmjow redirected the conversation.

"Yeah, that's true, I guess. I hardly know myself." I admitted to him "I made a wish at the tree that if anything bad were to happen I would have a chance to fix it. What's weird though, is that yesterday nothing bad happened. I mean, I saved you and my friends didn't die. I didn't die. What's the problem! Why is the day still repeating!"

"Calm down there." Grimmjow ordered "It probably means that you have to stop whatever's causing the bad things to happen, or that something bad happened and you weren't aware of it."

I was confused "Wait, you're not going to question the whole 'made a wish at a tree and it came true' bit?"

He laughed a bit "Well, you don't seem to have a reason to lie, so if you say it then I believe that you at least believe what you say is true. I have to admit, before I became one, I didn't believe in ghosts."

I 'hmmm'd' thoughtfully at that. Grimmjow was actually a pretty understanding guy. When he wasn't being a total asshole. Which was often.

"So, where do we go from here?" Grimmjow voiced his thoughts aloud.

I considered for a bit before answering him "Right now, we simply don't have enough information. There's too many holes in the story we've been fed. We need to check out the Karakura Paranormal Research Society and find out what they know about the tree and the history of this town. The protested the cutting of the tree. Obviously, whatever's going on has a paranormal connection."

Grimmjow paled a bit "Ichi it's really not a good idea to go in there."

His reaction startled me but I didn't give in "Well, if it's so horrible, I'm sure you'll come along with to make sure nothing happens to me."

Grimmjow didn't comment on that, he seemed to be considering something. He appeared to reach a decision and he nodded.

"Alright, I'll go with you."

xXxXx

Here we were, the Karakura Paranormal Research Society. Grimmjow was being a total jerk about it, though. He kept complaining and had walked at a snail's place the entire way. He constantly tried to annoy me, or distract me, or lead me in the wrong direction, but I was vigilant. So, a very long walk to the building ended with Grimmjow giving me one more warning.

"Don't go in there." He said.

I turned and said, "I have to."

I opened the doors and walked inside, expecting the worst. I was pleasantly surprised, however. The place was well decorated and if I didn't know better, I'd have assumed that I'd walked into the foyer of someone's apartment. For all of Grimmjow's complaining and warnings, I'd assumed that the place would have a… creepier vibe. There was one furnishing that would have been out of place in a home, and that was a desk with a little bell on it.

I walked up to it, with Grimmjow close behind and rang the bell. I waited for a few moments before loud noises started coming from a direction I couldn't place. My concerns were groundless, however, for it turned out to be the frantic running of a man coming down the stairs. He was hurrying, but from what I could tell he had silverish white hair and wore some sort of white and black robe.

When he stopped behind the desk and greeted us with a smile, I got a better look at his face. It was an… odd face, to say the least. Like I said, he had a smile on his face, but upon closer inspection it was rather creepy. His eyes were so close to closed that it was tough to tell whether they were open at all.

"Hello there, Grimmjow! What are you doing here? And you've brought a friend!" The man stated excitedly.

Grimmjow rolled his eyes and I noticed his stance was oddly defensive, like he was worried he'd have to fend off an attack.

"Gin." He said by way of greeting.

"You're not being very friendly, Grimmjow! And you haven't introduced me to your friend yet!" Gin spoke animatedly.

Ok, the guy was weird, but he actually seemed pretty friendly.

"If sit here waiting for Grimmjow to learn some manners, we'll be here for a long time!" I interrupted "My name's Ichigo Kurosaki, and I was wondering if you could help me."

"Of course!" He agreed readily "I'll do what I can."

"Good. I was wondering if you could tell me about the disaster from fifteen years ago, as well as why the our town's Paranormal Society would protest the cutting down of a tree?" I requested.

Gin nodded twice and walked off upstairs, telling me he'd be back and a moment.

"See Grimmjow? This is going great." I told him.

He glared at me "Don't fall for that snake's charms. He's a lot more dangerous than he seems."

I brushed off his comment, determined not to let it get to me. Grimmjow was just trying to scare me, for reasons unknown.

"How do you know him, anyway?" I asked him.

"Secret."

His answer annoyed me, but at least he wasn't lying. It was I step up, I supposed. Before we could talk any further, Gin came back down carrying a book.

"Now, I didn't live in Karakura town originally, so I don't know much about the disaster, and I'm afraid this organization was temporarily disbanded when it occurred, but this might be able to tell you a little bit about the tree." He smiled.

I was curious "What is it?"

"It's a log of all our activities. During meetings someone takes notes about who said what, and all that, so it might hold a couple of the answers you're looking for." He explained. "This one is from fifteen years ago. What you're looking for should be pretty close to the middle."

I thanked him and went over to a nearby chair to read what I'd just received. Gin and Grimmjow entered into a hushed conversation that I had no desire to hear.

I quickly found the entry I was looking for and read how the Society realized that a tree that housed some great supernatural energy was in danger of being cut down. It took some arguing, but they eventually agreed to stage a protest of it, in conjunction with other groups from around Karakura. Interestingly, there was some debate as to whether or not it might actually be a good idea to cut the tree down. A minority in the society believed that the tree was actually absorbing the good energy from around the city and using it to keep itself alive. In the end, they were forced to go along with the majority.

I was about to close the book when I saw the last page was a log of all the members that attended that session. I didn't recognize the majority of the names, though there were a lot of them. Apparently this little society was quite popular in its day. There were, however, four names I DID recognize.

Yoruichi Shihoin

Sosuke Aizen

Kisuke Urahara and

Isshin Kurosaki.

Those four names. All people I knew or had met, my father among them. I was confused to say the least, and I wondered what side of the debate each was on and what that might mean. This whole situation was starting to give me a headache. I didn't know what this meant, but what I did know was that the best way to get information would be to directly contact them. My dad was out of town, but I knew how to find Urahara and Aizen. And if I hung around the coffee shop long enough, I'd probably run into Yoruichi again.

I closed the book, thanked Gin, and all but dragged Grimmjow out of there. He was confused, but seemed to be glad to leave that place.

"Grimmjow, you'll never guess what I learned!" I shouted at him.

"What?" He asked curiously.

I quickly outlined what happened and told him about my plan to contact those people.

"I don't like it. It's too dangerous." He concluded.

That threw me for a moment. "How is it dangerous?"

"I mean, it doesn't seem like it'll work." He backpedaled.

Grimmjow was getting more and more suspicious the longer I was in contact with him. Half the things he said were lies, he always gave me vague warnings, and I didn't know the first thing about the guy. Well, it didn't matter to me, so long as he didn't try anything, then he could be as mysterious as he wanted. Were walking and making small talk about the weather and things like that when it happened. All of a sudden Grimmjow was on the ground, with no sign of why. He didn't appear to be moving, or even breathing I rushed over to help him and saw that crimson was beginning to bloom on his shirt. Having some medical knowledge, I tried to take his shirt off and find the source of the bleeding.

Just when I'd removed his shirt, though, I was hit by something in my left shoulder, the force of which knocked me down. Whatever it was had done a lot of damage. Was someone shooting at us? I felt pain and warmth as the blood spilled out of my body. I looked around, trying to find our assailant. I managed to glimpse them on a rooftop and only saw a flash of grey and a familiar crest before he or she took aim and took me out of commission for good.

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A/N- Alright, how was that! Finally some action and some sort of villain aside from vague evil feelings makes an appearance! Who was the mysterious shooter? Why did that person want to kill Ichigo? All will be answered. Eventually. Oh and next chapter we might see a Grimm/Ichi moment so get ready for that.

Now I will answer your lovely reviews!

Ikorose- Thank you so much! We've gotten some answers, but the majority of those simply lead to more questions! Don't worry, we'll get to the bottom of them eventually.

KamiKaze43v3r- Yeah now that he and Ichi have a bit more of a dynamic, I'm more comfortable writing him. How was the excitement for you? Honestly, I was going to put that ending scene off for a bit longer, but I figured it was time to move forward.

IceBlueFoxFire- Thanks! I was worried about doing a mystery, because I was afraid it wouldn't be mysterious enough, but I'm glad to see that it's working. Thank you also for complimenting my writing style, it means a lot to me! This is my first story in this fandom, and I'm pleased with how it's going so far.

albeltextra- Thanks! I'll keep on going and going till it's done.

Eternal Love's Eclipse- Ha ha, I actually think it's kind of a dumb name, but I had a creative block and just went with it. But still "Spirit Tree", can't get much more obvious as to what it is. Thanks! This chapter was a good one in my opinion. Let me know what you thought if you have the time.


	7. Q&A

A/N- I killed off both of the main characters in the last chapter. Come to think of it, I killed off Ichigo earlier, too. Man, I'm becoming some sort of butcher. Ah well, at least it isn't permanent! And sorry for the delay on this. To tell the truth, this story is quite difficult to write. Keeping the details straight is really tough, and I keep writing myself into corners. Thanks for the patience, though. Enjoy!

Pairings/Disclaimer/Warnings- It's the same old stuff. Except some language, I guess. It's no big deal, really.

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Chapter 7- Q&A

"Hey… Ichi!"

A voice broke through the blackness that was my sleep. I began to slowly wake up from my slumber. I looked around and saw that the day hadn't quite broken yet. It was the pale blue that you often see in the early mornings. I didn't spend much time reflecting on that, though, because standing next to my window was Grimmjow.

I'm not proud to admit this, but I panicked for a moment.

"What the hell are you doing in my room!" I demanded.

Grimmjow winced "Shhhhh! Everyone's still asleep!"

I glared at him, but silently agreed to make as little noise as possible. Grimmjow listened intently for any sign of movement from the other parts of my house. When he didn't hear anything, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"We got killed yesterday." Grimmjow stated matter-of-factly.

I agreed with him "It's become depressingly normal for me."

Grimmjow nodded thoughtfully before asking me a question "So, how much do you remember before you… died?"

I thought back "Well, first you were shot. When I tried to figure out how to stop the bleeding, it seemed like you weren't breathing. Before I could confirm that, though, I was shot in the shoulder. I looked around for the shooter, and found him or her, but I couldn't make out their face or tell anything about them before I was shot again, which is where my memory cuts out. Is that how you remember everything?"

Grimmjow blinked before answering "Yep. That's exactly how I remember it."

_Liar._

That bastard had just lied to me! I'd been letting him get away with it because it hadn't seemed all that important and to be honest, I just didn't know the guy that well. But this was unacceptable! We'd not just almost been killed we HAD been! If that didn't get the guy to tell the truth I had no clue what would! At any rate, I wasn't about to let him get away with it again.

"You lie a lot." I murmured in the silence, sure he would hear me.

He looked surprised, but then he owned up to it "Yeah."

"Why?"

"To protect you."

"Me specifically?"

"More like everyone I meet who asks questions. You just ask a lot of questions." He said with a grin.

I felt the urge to grin back, but I wanted to keep the conversation serious, so I suppressed it.

After a few silent minutes, me still in my bed and he still standing by the window, I shifted to sit on one side of the bed and gestured for him to sit on the other half. He took me up on my offer and we lay side by side on the bed. We didn't face each other, but rather just looked up at the ceiling and rested for the day ahead. Another few minutes passed and I decided to break the silence.

"Protect me from what?"

He sighed "Dangerous people."

"People like Gin?"

"Yeah."

"And Aizen?"

"How'd you know?" He asked, though he didn't sound surprised in the least.

"You said it would be dangerous to investigate him." I reminded him.

Grimmjow just sighed again, it was clear that he had little or no desire to continue the conversation, but I was finally getting somewhere with him and I wasn't about to let this opportunity go.

"How do you know they're dangerous?" I questioned him.

"I used to work for them. Well, Aizen anyway. He's the leader of an… organization around here. That and he owns and runs the Karakura Paranormal Society."

He shifted in his spot, and rose up to lean against the headboard. He could look down at me if he wanted to, but didn't. I just looked at him and waited for him to go on with his story.

"I met Aizen when I was walking outside that building. He was just leaving for the day. At the time, I was unemployed and strapped for cash. Whenever I worked at a job, I always got into fights with customers or other employees, be it a physical or a verbal fight. Regardless, it was usually my fault and I got fired a lot. For whatever reason, Aizen offered me a job on the spot. No questions asked, no credentials needed."

"What kind of job was it?" I asked.

He glanced down at me, then answered "Espionage."

"Ha ha, very funny." I said sarcastically.

He looked into my eyes and held the gaze before he started to speak.

"Ichigo Kurosaki," He began in a mechanical tone, "hair color: Orange, eye color: Brown, blood type: A, height: 5'9", weight: 134 lbs, birthday: July 15th, favorite food: chocolate and spicy things, looks up to: William Shakespeare, hobbies: karate and schoolwork, Special Abilities: Fighting and…"

Grimmjow trailed off there. That second special ability was fairly obvious anyway. What wasn't as obvious was how he know all this crap about me. I mean, none of them were big secrets of mine, but it's not like I go shouting around that I like Shakespeare.

"How do you know all that?" I questioned him.

"I told you. Espionage." He answered, not smiling.

"But I never saw you… how could you find all this out without actually following me?" I demanded.

He grinned again, "You'd be surprised how much you can find out about a person without meeting them. Find out who your friends and tail them, they'll talk about you eventually. Also, just because you can't see someone doesn't mean you can't hear them. Who said I had to be in your sight range at all? … and I kind of like to think I'm good at my job."

I considered that, deciding not to act emotionally until I got all the facts, "When I first met you, though, you didn't seem to react as if you knew me."

"Acting's just a part of the job, Ichigo." He countered.

"So why were you watching me?" I asked.

He frowned, "I don't know, actually I wasn't that high up in the organization. After awhile, though, I started to get the sense that they weren't on the up and up. I may have fewer scruples than most, but I'm pretty sure I had more than them. Anyway, whatever they wanted me to watch you for, it probably wasn't anything good, and you seemed like a good kid, so I ended my affiliation with them."

"This is crazy. Things like this don't happen!" I shouted.

"Shh!" He cautioned "Your sisters!"

I stood up off the bed and glared at them "You've been following me and my friends for who knows how long and all you can tell me is to quiet down! What's the matter with you!"

At least the bastard had the decency to look guilty.

He grimaced and looked away "I know I'm asking something unreasonable, but could you look past it? At least until we figure out what's going on? I think we should work together."

I gave him my angriest glare. 'something unreasonable' is a bit of an understatement. He wanted me to just ignore the fact that he'd been stalking me! On the other hand, he could be valuable in investigating all the mysteries that were going on in my life right now. It was a tough call. Various parts of my mind fought it out and in the end I settled on a middle of the road course of action.

"Look, you're somehow involved in all of this, so I can't just cut you out, but at the same time I'm still furious at you for spying on me." I told him "So, we're going to spend some time apart. I don't care what you do, but just stay out of my way for today and find me tomorrow."

Grimmjow nodded, seemingly relieved.

"What are you going to be doing?" He asked.

"I'm going to go to class." I answered.

"We got murdered yesterday and your top priority is schoolwork!" He yelled incredulously.

I glared at him "Quiet, you idiot! And of course it isn't! Aizen is a professor at my school, remember? I'm going to investigate him."

Grimmjow looked shocked "You never told me that."

"Didn't I?" I wondered aloud "Whatever. I'm telling you now."

He didn't look amused. In fact he looked a little anxious, if anything. If Aizen was someone that made Grimmjow nervous then he must certainly have a few secrets to hide. I was going to find them out, one way or another.

"Just be careful. You have no idea what he's capable of." Grimmjow warned.

"And you are?" I scoffed "Don't worry. Worse comes to worst he'll kill me and I'll just wake up today."

"Death's not the worst thing that can happen to a person." Cautioned Grimmjow.

"And what do you mean by that?" I asked.

He ignored my question and instead said "I should get going. Be careful."

With that he was climbing out my open window. I watched as he made his way across a tree branch that was conveniently close to the window. He shimmied himself down the tree, looked at me, gave a wave, and then was off to do whatever it was he had planned.

I sighed, still mad at him, but finding the mood harder to maintain now that I didn't have the person there to actively rage at. Glancing at the clock I noticed that it was about time for me to be getting up, so I decided to preemptively turn my alarm off and jump in the shower.

I like to take long showers, so by the time I got out Karin was at the breakfast table and Yuzu was starting breakfast. Yuzu said good morning and I said the same. Karin nodded at me in greeting and I nodded back. We made small talk for a few minutes before Yuzu announced that breakfast was ready.

I was just about to bite into a slice of toast when knocking was heard at the door. Yuzu started to get up, but I stood up and was walking before she could even protest. I already knew who was at the door anyway.

I opened the door, and before I even looked or the person had a chance to say hello the words were already coming out of my mouth.

"Hey, Rukia." I said.

She blinked "Hello, Ichigo! How did you know it was me?"

"You're too predictable. I always know when you're coming over." I covered quickly.

She 'hmmm'd' thoughtfully, seeming to accept my answer.

"Well?" She said.

"Well what?" I asked back.

"Invite me in!" She demanded.

That was Rukia for you. She might be nice most of the time, but she was rather blunt and didn't have any problems saying what she meant.

I held the door open for her as she crossed the threshold into the house and headed straight for the kitchen. Whenever Rukia comes over in the mornings, she's always somehow just in time for breakfast.

"Oh, hello Rukia! Will you be joining us for breakfast?" Yuzu called, simultaneously greeting and inviting her over.

Rukia was quick to smile at her "I think I just might, if that's alright."

"Hey." Karin said by way of greeting.

"Hello." Rukia responded.

I believe I mentioned this about Rukia, but one of my favorite things about her was the way she both created and took control of conversations. That way there were never any awkward silences and I didn't have to participate much. That's the way I liked it.

Conversation continued on for several minutes before I finally finished breakfast. Rukia was free to hang around if she wanted, but I didn't feel like waiting. I had to figure out what was going on with Aizen. I got up and grabbed my backpack and headed for the door. Rukia saw this and wasn't far behind.

"You could tell me when you're leaving every now and then. You'd only have to wait for about a minute…" Rukia said as we began walking to school.

"Well, the result would be the same, so what's the difference?" I countered.

She sighed, but didn't continue the argument. She probably sensed that she wouldn't get very far with me, I was too stubborn.

She decided to change the subject "So, the other day, Orihime was telling me about how she's never had a boyfriend. I couldn't believe it! She's so cute, it's surprising. You think she's cute, right Ichigo?"

"Sure." I agreed easily.

"We should get her a boyfriend." she said, staring at me intently.

I saw what she was getting at, but I just don't see Orihime that way. However, that wasn't really a conversation that I wanted to have with Rukia, so I decided to just play dumb for as long as possible.

"I agree. We should get Uryu to ask her out." I suggested.

"Uryu!" She exclaimed "Why him?"

"Well," I started to explain "he doesn't have a girlfriend and he gets along better with her much better than he gets along with most people. Plus, they both have their strange habits, so I think they're a good match."

To my shock and satisfaction she actually seemed to consider it! If this got her off my case and onto Uryu's then this was officially the best offhand comment I'd ever made. Of course, poor Orihime would actually have to go out with Uryu, but it was the lesser of two evils. It's not that I hated Uryu or anything, but the guy was difficult to deal with on his best day. Rukia opened her mouth to say something, probably to hint at me asking Orihime out yet again, but she was interrupted.

"Hey Rukiaaaaa! Ichigooooo!"

Speak of the devil, it was the girl herself. She sprinted about a block and a half to catch up to us. When she did, she doubled over, breathing hard to catch her breath. She apparently wasn't much of a runner because, to me, she hadn't even seemed to be going that fast.

"Glad… I… caught… you…" she panted heavily.

Rukia seemed concerned "Are you all right?"

"Yeah… fine." She reassured us, finally getting control over herself.

We started walking towards school, the girls' chatter washing over me. Every now and then a sense of déjà vu would come over me, but I knew it was because I vaguely recognized their conversation from the last time I'd ignored it. Man, that seemed like a lifetime ago.

"So, before you found us, Orihime, we were talking about Uryu." Rukia said "What do you think of him?"

"Oh, um…" she trailed off as she considered the question "Well, he's pretty nice, he's good at sewing, and he's really smart. He always helps me when I don't get something about homework! I like him."

"Oh really?" Rukia asked with a mischievous grin.

If it was me, I'd have gotten her implication, that maybe Orihime liked Uryu. Sadly, she wasn't talking to me and Orihime was clueless. With Rukia's fondness for subtlety in conversation, and Orihime's denseness towards anyone who didn't say something straight out, this conversation had to potential to continue into eternity. I had no desire to wait that long. The faster we got Uryu to ask Orihime out the faster Rukia would get off my case!

"We thought maybe you'd like to go out with him sometime." I blurted out.

That little comment got two pairs of eyes to lock firmly with mine. Rukia was annoyed at me, probably for ruining her fun. Orihime, on the other hand, was caught totally off guard. Her face was red and getting redder.

"Oh! I… uh…" she sputtered "He's… um, nice and sweet. Uh, I don't know… maybe?"

Rukia's eyes widened in surprise. She apparently hadn't thought she'd say that. Maybe she knew more about who Orihime liked than she had previously let on. I'd asked her awhile back, but she said that Orihime didn't have her eye on anyone.

"But Orihime, what about…?"

Rukia let the question die there, but it was enough. Bingo. Orihime has a crush. Probably on me, but maybe I shouldn't assume that.

Orihime avoided looking at either of us "Well, waiting's not working, is it? Maybe I should try something different…"

With that, the three of us reached to school gates. Orihime snapped out of her little daze and looked around. She waved us a quick goodbye and ran off into the school, leaving Rukia and me to wonder about her behavior.

"Well, time to work on Uryu, I guess." Rukia sighed.

"As opposed to me?" I said under my breath.

Rukia turned to look at me "What?"

"Er, nothing." I said, not wanting to reveal that I knew.

She looked at me. Her face expressionless. She sighed and turned towards the school building.

"Whatever." she breathed "Let's just get to class."

If she wasn't going to press, then I wasn't going to complain. Together, we began to head into the building. Something didn't feel right. Was I forgetting something?

Oh yeah.

Aizen.

* * *

A/N- Not the most action filled chapter, I know. Still, some info on Grimmjow, and set up for next time. To tell you the truth, I'm having trouble with the pacing of this story. Should I speed it up? Keep it the same? I dunno… either way the stakes will be raised in a couple chapters or so. In more ways than one.

Thanks for reading, drop a review if you feel like it!

Now I answer your totally awesome reviews!

KamiKaze43v3r- Thank you! I honestly don't like action because I don't think I'm very good at it, but if you approve, I guess it's not as bad as I thought.

Eternal Love's Eclipse- You… laughed? Aaaah, that's why I hate writing action! I'm no good at it! Ah well, at least you had a strong positive reaction to it, right? Ha ha, silver lining for the win! Thanks. Pacing is one of my biggest concerns in this story. There's so much detail to keep track of, it makes MY head spin and I'm the one that wrote it! Bah, I sort of want to wrap up certain storylines just to shelve them, but then it wouldn't be as good…

Kichi Hisaki- You review about how he doesn't have to go to school and that's the first place I send him! Odd coincidence. Anyway! There's some Grimmjow information for you! Is that all there is to him or is there more? Beats me. I "write in the moment" so to speak.

Amaya21- Ha ha, thanks for the review. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.


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